ing time Monday. The agency's massive record of decision on the cleanup will be signed and made public Thursday, said EPA spokesman Mark MacIntyre. It's traditional for the EPA to seek state concurrence before proceeding with any Superfund project. Washington state, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and the Spokane Indian Tribe all sent their letters of agreement last week.
While Washington pushed for a more thorough cleanup of river sediments than the EPA had originally proposed, Idaho wants the EPA to back off on several aspects of cleanup.
Idaho continues to resist any reference to Lake Coeur d'Alene as a Superfund site -- although 70 million tons of mine wastes sit on the bottom of the lake.
The lake meets federal drinking water standards for heavy metals, except during flood events. It does not meet federal safety limits for dissolved heavy metals that threaten fish and aquatic life.
During her recent visit to the Silver Valley, Whitman said Superfund money would not be used to remediate the lake -- a position that the Coeur d'Alene tourist industry had pushed for.
"Governor Kempthorne is correct. There will be no remedial actions in the lake," said the EPA's Mary Jane Nearman.
According to Superfund law, the EPA is entitled to chase pollutants where they've spread -- through the lake and downstream into the Spokane River as far as Lake Roosevelt.
The 1980 law also calls for a formal delisting process for portions of a Superfund cleanup, and that process would apply to Lake Coeur d'Alene.
"At this point there's some disagreement on how the lake would be freed from Superfund status," Nearman said.
The EPA record of decision calls for the lake to be managed under a locally prepared lake management plan.
Environmentalists have criticized the plan for having no funding and no teeth; Idaho politicians have promised to seek increased funding for the plan.
While Idaho supports a significant portion of the cleanup plan, the state still has "grave concerns" over several aspects of the program, Kempthorne said. Those concerns include:
•Putting the Idaho stretch of the Spokane River under Superfund. Idaho thinks local programs should be responsible for that part of the river. Beaches along the river in Washington will be cleaned up under Superfund.
•Including human health remedies in the upper Basin that aren't voluntary.
•Increasing sediment removals in the Basin. Idaho says it won't agree to pay for accelerated removals in its Superfund contract with the EPA "unless and until" it's convinced they are necessary.
That puts Idaho at odds with Washington, which wants the EPA to double the rate of sediment removals along the Coeur d'Alene River to protect the Spokane River. Particulate lead in the sediments remains a human health hazard in both states.
•Karen Dorn Steele can be reached at (509) 459-5462 or by e-mail at karend@spokesman.com.
