Waste sites considered for future EPA projects

CATALDO — Public input is being sought to help make a decision that could affect how the EPA continues its work in the Lower Coeur d’Alene Basin.

According to a recent release, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is nearing a decision on the location of a new waste consolidation area (WCA) and has it down to two potential locations.

WCAs are places where contaminated materials from nearby cleanup sites are stored similar to repositories. However, WCAs tend to be engineered closer to the projects that it is being used in conjunction with in hopes of keeping potential contamination to humans, wildlife, and surrounding environments to a minimum while also reducing costs and potential traffic on the roads.

The two sites being discussed for a new WCA are named based on its locations.

The Dredge Road Property lies west of Cataldo on the north side of I-90, and is already in a spot that contains thousands of yards-worth of heavily contaminated waste materials.

According to historic records, a suction dredge operated near the Cataldo Boat Launch where it dredged nearly 35 million tons of material from the bottom of the Coeur d’Alene River that were then deposited into a tailings pond that covered roughly 2,000 acres.

The other property, the South River Road Property came after the CDA Work Trust purchased the 160-acre parcel of land in the Dudley Reach area in October 2020 and weren’t entirely sure at the time how they would utilize it.

Formerly the site single residence property, the property features a little bit of everything including forested land, two large grassy fields used for agriculture, a large wetland and swampy area in the southern portion of the property that runs along South River Road.

This property could be used to supply clean materials for future cleanup projects, while the Dredge Road Property could not. However, both sites have the capacity to take in waste materials while also protecting the surrounding humanity, wildlife and environment.

As cleanup of the Lower Coeur d’Alene River Basin (from Enaville to Harrison) intensifies, EPA anticipates several WCAs may be needed for pending Lower Basin cleanups.

The EPA did announce last year that it would be initiating a pilot project within the river channel inside the Lower Basin.

The pilot project will examine and evaluate the potential effectiveness of various Lower Basin cleanup technologies such as, but not limited to, capping in-place, dredging, dredging/capping hybrid, and weirs to reduce erosion rates.

“A pilot is basically a learning project to help inform our approach to cleaning up contamination,” project manager Ed Moreen previously told the News-Press. “It will help us learn more about working in the river channel and evaluate ways to prevent mine waste from moving downstream, while we get some cleanup done. We can apply those lessons to future efforts.”

The exact location of the project is not yet set, but at this time they are focusing on a half-mile area about two miles downstream of the Mission Boat Ramp — including a large scour hole on the river bottom with high levels of mining-related waste.

Basically, right between the two discussed locations.

The decision isn’t set to be made until the May meeting of the Basin Environmental Improvement Project Commission — with hopes of getting the site ready to begin receiving materials in 2024.

The agency anticipates making a final decision on the next site at the May 18 Basin Environmental Improvement Project Commission (BEIPC) meeting and hopes to have the next site ready to accept waste in 2024.

In the meantime, EPA will provide information about the site selection process at a virtual public information session hosted by the Citizens Coordinating Council of BEIPC on March 30 at 6 p.m.

Area residents will have the opportunity to submit feedback for consideration to hickey.patrick@epa.gov until April 8.

Criteria that will be considered include:

• Impacts to wetlands

• Impacts to surface water, fish and wildlife

• Impacts on floodplain

• Proximity to faults and landslide areas

• Impacts to people living or working nearby (residences and schools along truck haul routes)

• Impacts to businesses along truck haul routes

• Trucking costs

• Potential for economic redevelopment once construction is complete

• Storage capacity