The Northwest News Network produced this fantastic story for KUOW News about how the federal stimulus package has sped up the disposal of arsenic- and lead-contaminated mine spoils on a flood plain off I-90 in Northern Idaho.
The East Mission Flats Repository is a Superfund site designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to receive the remains of Idaho’s toxic mining history despite being in a floodplain inundated just last year. Community groups are concerned that the area will flood again, spreading more toxic metals into state waters.
The pile of waste will stand up to 34 feet high within view from where Idaho’s oldest building stands in the Old Mission State Park, sacred to both the Coeur d’Alene Indians and the Jesuits.
There’s been a hard-fought battle against this plan to build this huge dump at the site of the old mission. I’ve heard about it mostly from Barbara Miller of the Silver Valley People’s Action Coalition at http://www.silvervalleyaction.com.