The Silver Valley Community Resource Center has posted “EMF: Old Mission Repository Fact Sheet” on their site, condemning the Environmental Protection Agency and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality for moving forward on the Eastern Mission Flats Repository. The repository is designed to contain contaminated soil from years of mining pollution. There are some pretty serious allegations here, including “there is no guarantee that the pollution will not leach and contaminate recreational areas, beaches, towns and communities.”

The non-profit has worked on cleanup issues in the Silver Valley since 1981. When news broke about a repository in a floodplain---and across from Idaho’s oldest building at Cataldo Mission---the group gathered enough resources for the EPA Inspector General to come visit the site. He okayed it on the contingent a flood monitoring system was included. Later, with help from Congressman Walt Minnick, EPA Superfund Administrator Mathy Stanislaus visited the site. He okayed it too. However, that did not stop SVCRC from fighting the repository given they received 2,000 signatures in opposition partially due to construction beginning before the public comment period ended.

Right now, the SVCRC is “calling upon national groups to support a moratorium of the site by calling for a public meeting of all affected citizens living downstream, from Harrison, to Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls and Spokane Washington.”