[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 102 (Friday, May 27, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-12951]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: May 27, 1994]
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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Lodging of Consent Decree Pursuant To the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
In accordance with Department of Justice Policy, 28 CFR 50.7, 38 FR
19029, notice is hereby given that on May 10, 1994, a complaint was
filed and a proposed consent decree was lodged with the United States
District Court for the District of Idaho in United States v. ASARCO,
Inc., et al., Action No. CIV 94-0206-N-HLR. The proposed consent decree
settles claims asserted by the United States at the request of the
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and by the State of
Idaho for releases of hazardous substances at the twenty-one square
mile Bunker Hill Superfund Site in northern Idaho. The companies named
as defendants are ASARCO Inc., Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation, Hecla
Mining Company, Callahan Mining Company, Sunshine Precious Metals,
Inc., and Sunshine Mining Company.
In the complaint, the United States asserted claims against each of
the defendants pursuant to sections 106 and 107(a) of the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), as
amended, 42 U.S.C. 9606 and 9607(a), and section 7003 of the Resource
Conversation and Recovery Act, 42 U.S.C. 6973 (RCRA), for injunctive
relief to abate an imminent and substantial endangerment to public
health or welfare or the environment due to the release or threatened
release of hazardous substances at the Bunker Hill Superfund Site in
Shoshone County, Idaho. The United States also sought recovery of costs
that have been and will be incurred in response to releases and
threatened releases of hazardous substances at and from the Bunker Hill
Superfund Site. The State of Idaho asserted a claim for recovery of
costs pursuant to section 107(a) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9607(a), against
defendant Hecla Mining Company.
Pursuant to the Consent Decree, the settling defendants have agreed
to perform cleanup activities in the residential areas of the Site and
at Page Pond. The residential areas include the towns of Kellogg,
Pinehurst, Smelterville, and Wardner, as well as the unincorporated
communities of Elizabeth Park, Ross Ranch, and Montgomery Gulch. The
residential yards element of the work requires the settling defendants
to remediate every yard within the Site boundaries in which the soil
lead levels exceed 1000 parts per million in the top 12 inches of soil.
Based upon EPA's projections, it is anticipated that approximately 1350
additional yards will need to be replaced at the Site (approximately
400 yards have already been replaced through removal actions conducted
over the last several summers). Replacing the yards involves removing
either 6 to 12 inches of top soil, depending on the depth of the lead
contamination encountered in the particular yard. The contaminated soil
is then taken to a soil repository within the Site, clean soil is put
in its place, and new sod is planted.
The remedial actions for rights-of-way and commercial properties
will involve, at a minimum, capping the contaminated soils in place,
and, where appropriate, removing contaminated soils. Appropriate places
for removal will include rights-of-way and commercial properties
located adjacent to residential properties. The Page Ponds tailings
impoundments will be closed as part of the consent decree work, and the
marshes that surround the Ponds will be restored, if possible.
Existing water wells within the Site will be closed and residents
currently obtaining water from wells will be hooked up to a municipal
supply system.
Because waste will remain at the Site even after remediation is
preformed, an institutional control program (``ICP'') has been
developed for the Site in order to prevent releases of hazardous
substances and to protect the clean soil barriers being created in the
residential areas. The ICP is designed to be implemented through the
Panhandle Health District's Environmental Health Code. The Health Code
will recognize the Health District's overall authority to implement the
ICP and will specify certain provisions that must be adopted as local
ordinances by each of the cities or towns within the Site, as well as
Shoshone County, in order to ensure that contamination is contained. In
general the goals of the Environmental Health Code and the new
ordinances are to notify persons of the existing contamination and to
establish certain minimum procedures that must be followed in order to
avoid the release of hazardous substances.
The consent decree requires the de minimis settling defendants,
Coeur d'Alene Mines and Callahan, to pay $1.23 million to the other
settling defendants. The other settling defendants are obligated to
provide $1 million upon entry of the consent decree to be used by the
State to ICP-related work.
Under the settlement, the settling defendants have agreed to pay
all oversight costs incurred by EPA and the State of Idaho in
implementing the consent decree. The settling defendants have also
agreed to pay up to a total of $8 million of EPA's past costs incurred
at the Site from the proceeds of their ongoing insurance litigation.
In exchange for the commitments made by the settling defendants in
the consent decree, the United States and the State of Idaho have
agreed to provide the settling defendants with a covenant not to sue
without normal reopener provisions for the remainder of the Site,
including the smelter area and Smelterville Flats. The settling
defendants will also receive a covenant not to sue for segregable
portions of the residential areas of the Site upon completion of the
remedial activities within each area. These covenants not to sue for
the residential areas will be subject to normal CERCLA reopener
provisions. A covenant not to sue for the ICP will take effect upon
full satisfaction of all requirements imposed by the ICP attachment to
the Decree (Attachment D). The covenant not to sue for the de minimis
defendants will be effective upon their payment of the amounts required
under the consent decree.
The Department of Justice will receive written comments relating to
the proposed Consent Decree for thirty (30) days from the date of
publication of this notice. Comments should be addressed to the
Assistant Attorney General of the Environment and Natural Resources
Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC 20530, and should
refer to United States v. ASARCO, Inc., et al, D.J. Ref. No. 90-11-3-
1228F.
The proposed Consent Decree and exhibits may be examined at the
following locations: The Region 10 Office of EPA, Records Center, 1200
Sixth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101; the Kellogg City Hall, 323 Main
Street, Kellogg, ID 83837; the Kellogg City Hall, Smelterville, ID
83868; and the Pinehurst/Kingston Library, Bunker Hill Superfund site
may be reviewed at the EPA Region 10 office in Seattle and at the
Kellogg Public Library.
A copy of the Consent Decree and exhibits (if requested) may be
obtained in person or by mail from the Consent Decree Library, 1120 G
Street, NW., 4th floor, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 624-0892. In
requesting copies, please enclose a check in the amount of $27.00
(without exhibits) or $286.75 (with exhibits) (25 cents per page
reproduction cost) payable to the ``Consent Decree Library.''
John C. Cruden,
Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment and Natural
Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 94-12951 Filed 5-26-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-01-M