FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ENR

MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1994 (202) 616-0189

TDD (202) 514-1888

FEDERAL COURT APPROVES IDAHO SUPERFUND CLEANUP AGREEMENT:

MINING COMPANIES TO CLEAN UP COMMUNITIES
NEAR BUNKER HILL SUPERFUND SITE

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Six mining companies will dig up and

remove lead and other heavy metals from more than 1,300
residential yards in northern Idaho under a settlement approved
by a federal district court, the Department of Justice announced.
The cleanup, which will also include commercial areas and rights-
of-way, is valued at more than $40 million and will be overseen
by the Environmental Protection Agency and the State of Idaho.
The settling defendants also have agreed to pay up to $8 million
to the Environmental Protection Agency for costs related to the
Site cleanup.
A number of communities totaling 6,000 residents within the
Bunker Hill, Idaho Superfund site are heavily contaminated after
more than 100 years of mining, ore processing, and smelting
operations conducted by various companies within and upstream of
the site.
Cleanup work required by the settlement agreement began
earlier this summer under an agreement between EPA and the mining
companies, and the remainder will now proceed under the
settlement, which was approved by the court November 17. Highest
priority will be given to yards where young children and pregnant
women live.
"This settlement shows how successful Superfund negotiations
can clean up pollution right in our backyards," said Lois
Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General for Environment and Natural
Resources. "The court's order lays the groundwork for a cleanup
of an important portion of this large and technically challenging
Superfund site."
"This settlement will result in the cleanup of the
residential yards, commercial properties, and other areas in
which the 6,000 residents of the Bunker Hill Site live and work
each day," said Charles Clarke, EPA Regional Administrator.
"This cleanup will greatly reduce the health risk posed by
contamination that has been deposited in the area over the last
hundred years, especially the risk posed to children who are most
susceptible to harm from lead and other hazardous substances
found at the Site."
Under the settlement, the mining companies, ASARCO Inc.,
Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation, Hecla Mining Company, Callahan
Mining Company, Sunshine Precious Metals Inc., and Sunshine
Mining Company, will clean up populated areas of the site and
Page Ponds. The towns of Kellogg, Pinehurst, Smelterville, Page,
and Wardner, as well as residential areas of Elizabeth Park, Ross
Ranch, and Montgomery Gulch will be cleaned up.
Roughly 1,350 residential yards with soil lead levels that
exceed 1,000 parts per million will be cleaned up by replacing
the top soil and vegetation. About 400 yards have already been
replaced through removal actions over the last several summers.
At least 200 yards will be cleaned up each year, beginning
with the most contaminated areas. Replacing the yards involves
removing from 6" to 12" inches of top soil. The contaminated
soil is then taken to a soil repository within the site, clean
soil is put in its place, and new sod is planted.
The clean up of rights-of-way and commercial properties will
involve removing soil where there is high potential for exposure
to contaminants and capping the remaining contaminated soils in
place. The Page Ponds, tailings ponds owned by ASARCO, will be
closed under the consent decree, and the marshes that surround
the ponds will be restored if possible. Existing water wells
within the site will be closed and residents who obtain water
from wells will be hooked up to a municipal supply system.
In his November 17 opinion, federal district court Judge
Harold L. Ryan wrote, "[t]he proposed settlement represents great
potential benefit to the citizens and environment of the affected
areas, as well as being fair and reasonable to the rights and
concerns of the defendants."
The United States will continue to pursue other potentially
responsible parties in connection with the Bunker Hill Site,
including Gulf USA Corporation and its subsidiary Pintlar
Corporation, which are now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
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