Hecla Mining Company has agreed to pay one of the largest settlements ever involving toxic clean-up under the Superfund program. The good news is that the money will be used to help fund the clean-up. The bad news is that the amount won’t come close to covering all the costs of repairing the damage that has been done.

 

More than $260 million (plus interest) will be paid to the federal government, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the state of Idaho to resolve claims over environmental damages caused by mining waste in North Idaho. The settlement comes after the company battled government and Indian representatives in court for 20 years over harm done to clean water, fish and birds as a result of millions of tons of mine-related waste that was released into the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River and its tributaries.

 

In 1983, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) placed the site, known as the Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Complex, on the Superfund priority list. The Coeur d’Alene Tribe originally filed its lawsuit in 1991, and the federal government joined in in 1996.

 

Dan Opalski, Superfund director for the EPA, said the Hecla agreement was among the 10 largest cash settlements achieved under the federal government’s toxic cleanup program. Unfortunately, Superfund officials estimate that it will take about $2 billion to complete the job.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Hecla to Pay $263.4M in Cleanup Costs (by Alecia Warren, Coeur d’ Alene Press)

Huge Settlement Gets $263M for Mining Waste (by Nick McCann, Courthouse News Service)

United States v. Hecla Ltd. (U.S. District Court, Idaho) (pdf)