Superfund delisting request draws response from local officials

KELLOGG — A recent proposal by a local resident titled “To Request IDEQ To Petition the EPA to Delist the Residential Soils Operable Unit (OU 1) from the Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Complex Superfund Site” has drawn the ire of local officials who don’t agree with the proposal’s contents, and both sides appear to be gearing up for a fight.

The 13-page proposal was put together and presented by local resident Jann Higdem at the November 2018, quarterly meeting of the Basin Environmental Improvement Project Commission (BEIPC), and was to be presented once again at their meeting last week that was cancelled.

It is Higdem’s hopes that BEIPC would use their pull at the State level to petition the powers that be to get part of the site delisted after hearing her research.

Within the proposal is a partial history of the area, but it also contains several articles from other superfund sites that have been delisted.

Perhaps nothing is as intriguing to the proposal as a 2002 letter from the Shoshone Board of County Commissioners (at that time) to EPA representatives in Seattle expressing their displeasure with the agency.

Although there is evidence to the contrary, the second paragraph of the letter contains the former BOCC’s thoughts on the EPA and their involvement in Shoshone County:

“We believe that there is no imminent threat to human health in Shoshone County. We believe that there is no imminent threat to the environment in Shoshone County. We believe that there is no medical emergency present in Shoshone County. Our Children are as healthy as any other group of children, and our population is intelligent, healthy, and unfortunately shrinking. We are one of only two counties in the State of Idaho to experience a decline in population during the last decade. Our county is shrinking in large part due to the oppressive actions of the EPA.”

The letter goes on to argue many of the points the EPA had made on their record of decision (ROD) and ultimately concluded with them demanding that they suspend all of the work being conducted within “The Box.”

The Box is the 21-square mile area surrounding the smelter area from the former Bunker Hill Smelting plant and includes all of Kellogg, Smelterville, Wardner, and Pinehurst.

Within The Box the area is divided up into three different Operable Units (OUs), which are broken down into three classifications, OU 1: populated areas, OU 2: non-populated areas, and OU 3: which is the area outside The Box and is known as the Basin.

In Higdem’s proposal she echoes the former BOCC’s thoughts and drives home her reasoning for wanting to see OU 1 delisted.

“The Residential Soils Operable Unit (OU 1) was the first unit addressed at Superfund site because exposure to lead in residential soil (has) been identified as the primary health risk to children and pregnant women within the populated areas of the site,” Higdem wrote. “The populated areas (Reasonably Segregated Areas, or RSAs) included: Kellogg, Wardner, Smelterville, Page, Pinehurst, Elizabeth Park, Ross Ranch, and Montgomery Gulch. The 1991 Record of Decision stated that residential soils were not a ‘principal threat’ at this site, although they represented a significant lead exposure pathway to the local population, as well as exposure to interior house dust and consumption of locally grown gardens.”

Over the years, further conversations between the varying agencies communicated their frustrations with the EPA and their involvement within Shoshone County as well as the State of Idaho.

The proposal ends with Higdem thanking the EPA as well as the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ) for their work, but urged that the OU 1 be delisted since work within that area is complete.

The Bunker Hill Task Force recently heard of Higdem’s proposal and discussed it at their Jan. 30 meeting, and they decided to draft a letter to Idaho State Representative Priscilla Giddings voicing their disagreement.

Within the letter was one main theme that could be summed up in a single paragraph, pointing out what they perceive to be a logical fallacy within Higdem’s proposal.

“We do not feel that there is any economic benefit to a partial delisting of properties. Even if you delist selected properties within Operable Unit 1, they are still surrounded by the overall Superfund Boundary,” the letter reads. “In recent years, we have moved past the negative stigmas that some have associated with Superfund. IDEQ and EPA have been working partners with the local communities as we have worked through environmental remediation and revitalization of our local economy. Over $150 million has been spent on infrastructure improvements throughout the Silver Valley in the last decade. Much of those funds were provided by EPA. In some cases, communities here have been able to use funds from EPA’s projects as matching credit for loans and grants. Locally we have learned that we can use our Superfund designation as leverage when seeking funds to improve our communities. In addition, all the properties within the Box face the potential for recontamination by catastrophic events. When we have a flood, sediments left in the place are released, potentially re-contaminating remediated properties. If a tree blows over in an individual’s yard it brings hazardous substances to the surface. The management responsibilities on properties here are never ending and more complex than at any other site in the nation.”

The Bunker Hill Task Force is comprised of many Kellogg City Councilmen, residents, as well as Kellogg's mayor.

Kellogg mayor Mac Pooler drafted a letter that was also sent to Giddings, where he says that he is speaking for both himself, as well as the other six mayors of Shoshone County’s incorporated cities.

Within that letter he emphatically states that he and the other mayors do not support Higdem or her proposal.

“It has come to our attention that a request has been made to the Idaho House of Representatives for support of the ‘delisting’ of the Residential Soils Operable Unit 1 for the Populated Areas of the Bunker Hill Superfund site,” the letter reads. “The mayors of each of the cities represented do not support the delisting of our communities.”

It goes on further to say; “Summer events have grown in all of our cities and now brings people to the Silver Valley from the surrounding area and from as far away as Seattle and Missoula. From Mullan to Kingston all of our cities have benefitted from EPA funding that has replaced critical road surfaces to help maintain the barriers from recontamination. The ICP (Institutional Controls Program) has been used to guide these improvements and local citizens rely on the ICP to guide them on home projects. Local contractors and realtors use the program to assist with construction, sales, and financing associated with development projects site-wide.”

At this time there is a set process for getting anything Superfund Sites delisted from the National Priorities List, but there is a formulaic way that that is accomplished.

According to information on the EPA’s website, deletion of sites from the National Priorities List (NPL) may occur once all response actions are complete and all cleanup goals have been achieved.

The EPA is responsible for processing deletions with concurrence from the State.

Deleted sites may still require five-year reviews to assess protectiveness.

If future site conditions warrant, additional response actions can be taken, using the Superfund Trust Fund or by Potentially Responsible Parties. Relisting on the NPL is not necessary; however, sites can be restored to the NPL if extensive response work is required.

EPA can also delete portions of sites that meet deletion criteria.

That criteria seems to backup the claims from the Bunker Hill Task Force surrounding the constant recontamination of OU 1 as work continues in OU 2 and OU 3.

At this time there is no indication as to whether or not the site will be delisted, but both parties digging in on their respective sides.

Higdem will be presenting her proposal once again to the Basin Commission at their quarterly meeting on Feb. 27.

The Shoshone News Press will continue to follow this story as it develops.