Silver Valley Quagmire
Hard to believe it has been nearly two years since the Silver Valley Community Resource Center got the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office Of Inspector General to launch an investigation of the Eastern Mission Flats repository near Cataldo Mission. And the results are finally in. Read HERE.
If you recall, the review was conducted after allegations of inadequate community involvement. In fact, construction began on the site before the public comment period closed in July 2007. Although the report concluded EPA Region 10 and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ)---which cover the largest lead Superfund site called Bunker Hill)---provided sufficient public outreach, there was this small victory: “We found that many physical aspects of flooding have been investigated and considered in the design process. However, we also found that the geochemical aspects and potential for releasing dissolved contaminants had yet to be investigated. The proposed repository site is located in an area that floods annually. Region 10 and IDEQ have not sufficiently analyzed the geochemical conditions that are expected to form near the repository base, the potential for annual flooding to introduce water into the repository, and the possibility that dissolved contaminants will migrate away from the repository.”
In May 2008, DTE wanted to see for ourselves how bad the flooding was. Below is the repository in standing water, a curious place to dump contaminated soil that will wash downstream, ironically exposing more:
Now, the Inspector General concluded EPA should address these issues in its 90-day response to the final report. But in the June 2009 EPA Region 10 newsletter titled “Summer Construction Season Is In Full Swing,” they’re planning to dump at Eastern Mission Flats Repository anyway. The newsletter clearly states the following: “This summer, you may notice some activity near the East Mission Flats (EMF) Waste Repository. Large trucks and other equipment will be on site, and you may see increased truck traffic. The site is near Exit 39 on I-90, west of Cataldo. It is across I-90 from the Old Mission. EMF is needed to securely contain contaminated soils from yard cleanups in the Lower Basin. It will help reduce people’s exposure to contaminants such as lead, arsenic, and cadmium.”
No word yet on if those plans will be removed.
Barbara Miller of the SVCRC who led the grassroots movement to bring in the Inspector General is still questioning Region 10’s transparency and public comment process. “I’m concerned that Region 10 can and the Idaho Department Of Quality can still ignore the Inspector General’s report and dump at the Mission Repository even when the community is screaming ‘no!’ They’re just trying to cram this down our throats.”
Miller is currently launching a campaign to involve Lisa Jackson, the national EPA administrator to come to the Silver Valley. “The people of Silver Valley are tired of being ingnored. We’ve been exploited,” she said.
DTE will keep you posted.
