Idaho

Full cleanup panel meets for first time
Will guide Superfund work on mining waste
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Benjamin Shors
Staff writer

Coeur d'Alene _ A state-led commission that will guide Idaho's Superfund cleanup of mining waste met in full for the first time Friday.

The Basin Environmental Improvement Project Commission welcomed two new members -- John Iani, regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and James McCurdy, a Gonzaga University law professor.

Iani called the commission an "innovative, first-time test approach at alternative ways to carry on a Superfund cleanup.

"Because it is so new, it is not a miracle worker," Iani said. "I'm cautiously optimistic."

McCurdy, named as the Washington representative on Thursday, could set a new standard for local input in federal cleanups.

"Our success will become the model for other communities," he said.

The commission, created by the Idaho Legislature to lead the 30-year cleanup of pollution in the Coeur d'Alene Basin, will be tasked with overseeing much of the $359 million EPA cleanup.

The commission does not have oversight over an $11 million cleanup in Washington state.

Sherry Krulitz, a Shoshone County commissioner, was named chair of the committee. She will serve a two-year term.

"You do not have seven like-thinkers on this commission," Krulitz said. "There's going to be some long debates, I'm sure."

Though the commission was designed to accommodate public comments, several citizen groups remain wary. Environmentalists in Washington asked Gov. Gary Locke to oppose the commission, saying it held downstream residents "hostage" to its decisions. Washington has one seat on the seven-member commission.

Members of a Silver Valley citizens coalition remain "absolutely opposed" to the commission beginning cleanup, said Bob Hopper, a group member and owner of the New Bunker Hill Mine.

Rog and Toni Hardy of Harrison, who live along the 71-mile Rails-to-Trails project, said the commission only gives "lip-service" to the public.

"So far, I think this whole thing excludes the public," she said.

Rog Hardy, a geologist who has applied for a spot on the basin's technical advisory group, said, "They're just building bigger walls around themselves."

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