The Site: The Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Site became a Superfund site in 1983. The site covers parts of northern Idaho and eastern Washington. It is divided into three areas: the 21-square-mile “Box” populated area, the Box non-populated area, and the Coeur d’Alene Basin.
Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Site Overview |  |
Basin Environmental Improvement Project Commission (BEIPC)
Contact: Terry Harwood 208-783-2528
Citizens Coordinating Council (CCC)
Contact: John Snider, Chair, 208-664-9773
Jerry Boyd, Vice-Chair, 509-455-6039
Meeting date, time & place To Be Announced on CCC webpage. |
Partners: EPA is working closely with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, the Basin Environmental Improvement Project Commission, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, other federal, state, and local agencies, and local community members to move forward on this complex cleanup.
Getting it Done: Project staff are cleaning up people’s yards, finding safe places to dispose of mine waste, and cleaning up mine and mill sites. This is a long-term, complicated cleanup, likely to take decades. EPA plans to get the cleanup done as quickly as we can, and leave the area a cleaner, safer place.
Together, we’re making progress!
- In 2008, cleanup of residential and commercial properties in the Box was certified complete. Over 3,000 properties have been cleaned up to date. Many local communities cooperated in this massive, multi-agency effort to test, partially remove, and cap metals-contaminated soils.
- Blood-lead levels in children in the Box are down.
- Trees, grasses, and shrubs are flourishing and wildlife has returned to hillsides in the Box.
- Hundreds of yards are cleaned up every year in the Basin. Property sampling continues and results are provided to property owners and to those interested in real estate transactions.
- Local workers are being hired to do yard cleanup work.
- Agencies are continuing to look for secure places, called "repositories," to put contaminated materials from yard cleanups.
- By the end of 2006, EPA had transferred about 1800 acres of Box property to the State of Idaho to facilitate economic development.
- Thousands of people are enjoying the 72-mile Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, which was completed in 2005. This project returned land to productive use, providing a safe recreational trail for local residents and tourists.
- Recreational areas along the Spokane River are being cleaned up.
- Nearly 400 acres of safe feeding habitat for wild birds and other wildlife is being created.
| | East Mission Flats Update
You may be among a group of citizens who have expressed interest in the East Mission Flats Waste Repository near Cataldo, Idaho. Several concerns have come up. Among them are how close the repository sits to the Old Mission; whether the repository can be seen from the Old Mission; whether the repository poses a risk to wetlands; whether flooding poses a risk to the repository; and what’s going to happen next.
Letter to Citizens (PDF) (3pp, 43K) - November 2007
DEQ’s Responses to Public Comments (PDF)
Frequently Asked Questions
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