Mining Pollution Video Irks Craig Lawmaker Gets Apology For Part Of Lands Council Information Campaign - But Not For Video

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig has asked Washington state to correct a recent information campaign about the mining pollution in the Coeur d’Alene Basin.

A Washington state official apologized to Craig for lobbying material that the Inland Empire Public Lands Council distributed door-to-door in May, but Craig thinks more needs to be done.

“I’m embarrassed to admit that this material was approved by Ecology staff,” wrote Dan Silver, assistant director of the Department of Ecology’s waste management division.

In the “door-hanger” packets was a video called “Get the Lead Out!” that describes the history of mining pollution and the extent of that pollution in the Silver Valley and downstream.

The packets were distributed to about 10,000 homes in the Spokane area in May.

“Our future is at risk,” the narrator tells viewers. “The heavy metal contamination of North Idaho will in time be the heavy metal contamination of Spokane.”

The Department of Ecology awarded the lands council a $38,500 public participation grant to produce the video.

“We don’t think that was the right thing to do,” said Sandy Patano, a Craig staff member in Coeur d’Alene.

In his June 10 letter, Silver specifically apologized for material in the packet that criticized legislation Craig is sponsoring. Craig incorrectly tied the apology to the video, as well.

The lands council, an environmental group, opposes Craig’s Coeur d’Alene Basin cleanup legislation, claiming, among other things, that it does not provide for a definite source of funding and releases mining companies from liability under certain circumstances.

“What I find completely unacceptable,” Craig wrote back, “is using public money to fund an unbalanced effort founded on incorrect facts to scare the public into believing something that is untrue.”

He called on the agency to get its grant money back from the lands council and fund a public information effort “that accurately portrays the situation…” The video’s producer and narrator, Timothy Cunninghamm of Spokane, defended his video as based on scientific studies and his own observations.

“It’s not a movie. It’s not Pocahontas,” he said. “I’m standing in a pile of tailings in the water (in the video)…For God’s sake, put your feet on the ground in the watershed and look at what a mess it is.”

Mark Solomon, the lands council’s executive director, criticized Craig for misinterpreting Silver’s apology.

Silver was referring to a brochure that called for improvements to the legislation. Solomon insists the Department of Ecology was pleased with the documentary, and is unlikely to ask for its money back.

Silver was unavailable for comment Friday, but agency officials in the past have expressed concern about metals contamination behind Upriver Dam and elsewhere in the Spokane River.

A recent Department of Ecology report noted that during high water season, dissolved lead in the Spokane River exceeds state safety standards for aquatic life.

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