Final year of work to begin at Canyon Creek Repository
An arial view of the near-complete Canyon Creek Repository up Burke Canyon. Work is set to begin for the season in just under a week.
Courtesy
BURKE CANYON — Construction crews with the Coeur d’Alene Work Trust are ramping up to begin the final year of construction at the Canyon Complex Repository/Waste Consolidation Area (CCR/WCA).
The project has been ongoing for several years and was created to not only be used for clean-up projects, but to address a former one that had begun failing.
According to EPA Project Manager Bonnie Arthur, the new complex will be able to hold more than 1 million cubic yards of materials, including the 550,000 cubic yards of contaminated materials that currently sit in the nearby leaking SVNRT (aka the Lower Burke Canyon Repository).
Repositories and waste consolidation areas like these are used to store the contaminated materials caused by years of improperly disposed mine wastes — as well as the reduction of health risks from heavy metals like lead and arsenic.
While the project is expected to be completed this year, the repository has already taken the half-million cubic yards from the SVNRT and should be fully open to begin taking other materials from other projects by 2023.
“This repository gives us room for future cleanup projects in the Canyon Creek area,” Arthur said previously. “We have the Hecla Star Complex project set for 2022. We have several other projects up there as well. We appreciate how patient the community has been through all of this.”
Work on the final phase of the project will begin next Monday, May 2, as crews begin expanding the new foundation, as well as the drainage system.
Once those projects are addressed, a cover will be placed over the waste materials that have already been received from the SVNRT repository.
When finished, the new WCA will be able to hold about 1.8 million cubic yards of mine waste.
Work will run Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. with no expected road closures through November.
Locals may notice a number of new signs around the project reminding people to avoid going onto private property where construction work is proceeding and heavy equipment is stored.
These signs will help protect public health and safety, and on-site construction equipment.
While signs will be posted, EPA expects to keep the roads open unless there are problems with public safety or vandalism.
For more information or concerns, please contact Arthur at 206-553-4072.