silvervalleyaction.com

SPOKANE (AP) — Reversing an earlier stance, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Michael Bogert said today he will sit on a commission that oversees the cleanup of northern Idaho’s Silver Valley.

Bogert said the EPA’s Office of General Counsel concluded he could serve as the federal representative on the Idaho commission because it was in the best interest of the agency.

The EPA is cleaning up more than a century of mining waste contamination at one of the nation’s largest Superfund sites at Kellogg, Idaho.

Bogert, a former legal adviser to Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne when the basin commission was created, had recused himself in August from participating in any EPA matter involving parties that he had previously represented.

But Bogert said sitting on the seven-member Coeur d’Alene Basin Environmental Improvement Project Commission would benefit his agency.

“In this instance, perhaps consideration of having me serve as the federal representative to the basin commission would be in the best interest of the EPA, and they granted and gave me approval to participate,” Bogert said in a telephone interview from Boise.

Bogert said his staff made the argument to the EPA’s general counsel that his knowledge and experience would be beneficial to the federal government and to advancing cleanup work in the basin.

“The issue is whether a reasonable person could raise concerns about whether or not decisions could be made impartially by the federal decision-maker,” he said, noting that his decisions can be appealed.

But a representative of the Sierra Club said Bogert’s presence on the commission tips the balance to Idaho interests which oppose expansion of the Silver Valley Superfund to include the entire Coeur d’Alene Basin.

John Osborn, a Spokane physician and official of the Sierra Club’s Upper Columbia chapter, said Bogert was a leading architect of Idaho’s opposition to a basin-wide cleanup of mining contamination.

“One of the reasons we opposed the basin commission in the first place, the basin commission was an effort launched by the Idaho Legislature to transfer control of the cleanup from the EPA to Idaho state control,” he said. “It was structured to be heavily tilted toward Idaho interests.”

Bogert succeeds Ron Kreizenbeck, the deputy regional administrator, who has served on the commission since August 2004. Kreizenbeck will remain as Bogert’s alternate on the commission.

Bogert said he intends to meet with Coeur d’Alene tribal officials and the Washington state representative on the commission to get their views.

The commission, created by the Idaho Legislature in 2001, approves cleanup work plans, prioritizes work, and shares information about cleanup efforts. It includes representatives from the federal government, the states of Idaho and Washington, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, and three north Idaho counties.

The EPA has spent more than $250 million to clean up the 21-square mile Bunker Hill site at Kellogg, Idaho, a mining and smelting complex that closed in 1981 and was named a Superfund site in 1983.

The site is part of the much larger 1,500-square-mile Coeur d’Alene River Basin, which flows into Lake Coeur d’Alene and into Washington via the Spokane River.

Bike Aid Pedals Once More Through Silver Valley
Riders for peace and social justice visit the Bunker Hill Superfund site and learn about Kellogg's community

Kellogg, ID--It seems like yesterday when Global Exchange, a human rights group in San Francisco, first contacted Barbara Miller of the SVCRC and asked to host Bike Aid - an epic cross-country bicycle journey for peace and social justice. Every year, Bike Aid cycles from Seattle to Washington, DC with a mission for change, challenging the status quo and advocating for peace and social justice. In the course of their trip, they are often hosted by groups who have similar programs of social and environmental outreach.

"I know the work that SVCRC has undertaken over the years in cleaning up the Bunker Hill Superfund site is of interest to the riders," says Barbara Miller, director of the SVCRC. "They are very supportive of our work, holding government agencies such as the EPA accountable for the cleanup and getting medical help to lead poisoned residents. We share a commitment to making our community a better place for all people".

2006 marks the 14th year that Bike Aid has stopped in Kellogg. This year, they will arrive on Saturday, June 17 and will depart on Sunday morning June 18. Kellogg's residents will feed the riders a delicious dinner with plenty of carbs and show the documentary of the Superfund site, Heavy Metal. Sunday morning they will eat heartily at Sam's restaurant before heading to Mullan where they will briefly meet with Mullan city council members before heading to Montana.

Global Exchange is an international human rights organization that seeks to create people-to-people ties, fostering understanding between people who rarely have the opportunity to connect. In addition to Bike Aid the group leads "Reality Tours" to places where the U.S. has traditionally had interest or conflict and also has campaigns that promote active participation in creating a just, sustainable world, locally, nationally and globally.

Kellogg, Idaho. The Silver Valley Community Resource Center joined with over 50 organizations across the country to release the"25^th Anniversary of Superfund: America’s Safety Net in Crisis," a national report which finds the program is at its weakest, at a time when it is needed most to respond to the toxic emergencies.

On the 25^th anniversary of Superfund, and the upcoming 2^nd anniversary on October 1st of Superfund’s depletion by the loss of polluter pays fees, the report finds that the once-robust and successful toxic waste safety net is now in crisis.

Since its creation in 1980, Superfund has cleaned up 936 sites protecting hundreds of communities. EPA has secured over $22 billion from polluters who have funded approximately 70% of the site cleanups (the remaining 30% are cleaned up with Superfund monies).

Since polluter pays fees expired in 1995, and Congress refused to reinstate them, the burden on taxpayers to support the Superfund Trust Fund has increased by 300%. Taxpayers now fully shoulder the burden of the program’s $1.2 billion annual appropriation to clean up abandoned sites. "This unfair situation has occurred since the Bush Administration made a policy decision to give polluters a free ride and pass the bill on to taxpayers," noted Lois Gibbs, Executive Director of the Center for Health, Environment & Justice, a co-author of the report. It is the first and only administration to oppose the reinstatement of polluter pays fees. When the fees expired in 1995, Superfund had a surplus of $3.8 billion—but on October 1, 2003 all industry fee monies were spent shifting the burden totally to taxpayers.

Superfund has a weakened Trust Fund with a decrease in funding of $600 million annually—from $1.8 billion in 1993 to $1.2 in 2004—according to a recent federal report.

Consequently, Superfund cleanups have slowed to a crawl with an approximate 80% reduction in annual site cleanups—from 88 sites in 1997 to just 16 sites cleaned up in 2005. *

The report includes a Superfund Site Profile for every state in the U.S. with community updates describing health problems, including birth defects and cancer.

"The Bunker Hill Superfund site in North Idaho and Eastern Washington was first designated in 1983. Interior of homes and schools have yet to be remediated and there remains a grave concern with all the mine pollution remaining in yards and Coeur d’Alene Lake and river banks of the Coeur d’Alene and Spokane rivers", says Cass Davis, SVCRC Board member. Recently in an order to close the gap of resources being eliminated because of the Bush Administration not replenishing the polluter pays tax, SVCRC has affiliated with a Clear Corps USA a national organization for lead education and outreach. "Superfund is supposed to be our safety net when toxic emergencies occur," said Gibbs. "Now on its 25^th anniversary, it is time for Congress to restore the hazardous waste fees on polluting industries. The core principle is that polluters—not taxpayers—should pay to clean up these toxic waste sites. The ailing Superfund is at its weakest when we need it most to quickly respond to the horrific pollution from toxic and oil waste releases and flooded toxic waste sites resulting from Hurricane Katrina."

For more information, please visit www.besafenet.com/superfund (* As of September 14, 2005, 16 sites have been remediated in Fiscal Year 2005, which ends on September 30, 2005)

National Academy of Sciences Recommendations Reinforce the Need for Community Lead Health Clinic, Bunker Hill Superfund Site. Aug 2005: Refer to Projects

Hazardous Waste Conference 1993 Barbara L. Miller, a community organizer for the Silver Valley Peoples Action Coalition in Kellogg, Idaho, discusses the Bunker Hill Superfund site. Citizens and the local health community have been disputing the health effects caused by lead exposure. She discusses the attitudes of the community and the concerns they had with the company's doctors.
http://atsdr1.atsdr.cdc.gov:8080/cx4a.html