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Coeur D'Alene Basin Clean-upThe ChallengeSenator Murray believes that polluters – not taxpayers – should pay to clean up abandoned Superfund sites. Since 1980, under the law, the chemical and petroleum industries have paid fees into a fund used to clean up abandoned toxic waste sites. The legislation allowing the fee expired in 1995. In 2003, the Bush Administration would not seek to renew it. If the president does not reinstate “polluter pays,” then taxpayers will soon be on the hook for 100 percent of the clean up trust fund. There are hundreds of toxic sites throughout the country that need to be cleaned up, including the Coeur D'Alene basin and approximately 60 other sites in Washington State. Senator Murray joined 27 other U.S. Senators from both parties voting for an amendment to the FY 2004 Budget Resolution to restore the “polluter pays” Superfund tax. Senator Murray has also cosponsored legislation introduced by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) to reinstate the Superfund tax. The bill, S. 173, has been cosponsored by 24 other Senators and referred to the Senate Finance Committee. Decades of Contamination The Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Site polluted the Coeur D’Alene River, Lake Coeur D’Alene and the Spokane River with its mining and lead smelting operations from the late 1800s through the 1970s. These operations contaminated the soil, groundwater, air and the river systems with lead, arsenic, zinc, and cadmium. As a result, the Coeur D’Alene basin has been designated a Superfund site. Record of Decision Murray kept pressure on the EPA to issue the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Coeur d’Alene Basin, which had been delayed for years. Murray had a lengthy conversation with Administrator Whitman and followed up with a letter to urge the EPA to issue the ROD. The ROD was issued in September 2002 and is a necessary precursor for cleanup to begin. The long-overdue effort will reduce the influx of water pollution from Idaho into Washington State via the Spokane River. (To get a copy of the EPA's 2002 Record of Decision Fact Sheet, and a map of the polluted sites along the Spokane River, please call 202-224-2834.)
..................................................................................... News Releases
7/18/2003
9/26/2002
9/11/2002
3/21/2002
..................................................................................... ArticlesSeattle Post-Intelligencer Politicians angry over river’s exclusion from Bunker Hill cleanup “Decades of mining wastes from the Silver Valley of Idaho have flowed into the Washington waterway, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has decided those wastes will not be cleaned up soon, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Friday. - July 19, 2003 ........................................... The Spokesman-Review ‘The men, women and children who live in Eastern Washington deserve to live in a healthy, clean environment,’ Murray, D-Wash., said. ‘It’s outrageous they're cleaning up Idaho but not Washington.’” - July 19, 2003 |
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