EPA extends comment period

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will extend a public comment period by 90 days for its upper Coeur d’Alene Basin cleanup plan. Comments on plan will be due Nov. 23. Idaho’s Congressional delegation and community leaders had asked for the extension, saying members of the public needed more time to digest the 2,200-page proposal, which focuses on improving water quality through the cleanup of mining waste. The cleanup would cost $1.3 billion. The work would take place over 50 to 100 years. Dennis McLerran, EPA’s regional administrator, announced the extension in a letter to U.S. Senator Mike Crapo, dated Tuesday. In the letter, he said he agreed that community members needed more time to review the plan. “It is important to EPA that basin residents and other stakeholders understand and have meaningful input into the actions EPA has outlined,” McLerran wrote.