Superfund and Mining Megasites Lessons from the Coeur d'Alene River Basin (2005) / Chapter Skim
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9 Mining Megasites: Lessons Learned
9 Mining Megasites: Lessons Learned
Pages 411-430
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This chapter addresses issues and opportunities associated with large complex mega-mining sites under Superfund. The discussion is informed both by perspectives gained through experience with the Coeur d'Alene River basin site, as well as committee members' broader insights and observations.
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Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Inspector General (EPA 2004b)
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. The most obvious problem with "cleaning up" megasites such as the Coeur d'Alene River basin is the massive quantities of contaminated waste materials (including waste rock, tailings, and tailings-contaminated sediments)
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Here, EPA admits that the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars over three decades will be only a first 3Recognizing this problem, the EPA National Remedy Review Board recommended that the environmental protection remedies proposed for OU-3 be designated "interim" remedies (NRRB 2001)
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From page 415... ...
But, particularly in megasites like the Coeur d'Alene River basin, the contamination is likely to be only one of the problems creating these risks. Lack of access to adequate health care, unemployment, poverty, and a number of other factors can have as much of an impact on community health as the contamination from mining wastes.
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From page 416... ...
such an approach would be one of the few options that would satisfy the preference in CERCLA for remedies that reduce the toxicity of the wastes. As indicated in Chapter 2, tailings have been re-mined and reprocessed in the past in parts of the Coeur d'Alene River basin.
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MINING MEGASITES: LESSONS LEARNED 417 involved in cleanup theoretically could be held responsible for cleaning up the entire site. In some cases, government agencies have indemnified organizations involved in cleanup operations.
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In the case of the Coeur d'Alene River basin, EPA's modeling studies indicate that hundreds of years will be required to meet these goals, regardless of how much remediation is performed. Unless one envisions a remediation program lasting for several centuries, one must question whether these types of ARARs are appropriate criteria for remedy selection.
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These statements should not be construed to indicate that a decreased level of environmental protection is acceptable. Rather, measured end points and goals should be based on achieving characteristics of healthy aquatic ecosystems (for example, macroinvertebrate diversity, numbers, and composition; habitat indices; and fishery markers)
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From page 420... ...
It has proposed remedial actions for addressing these environmental risks, but this may have been largely a paper exercise because there is so much uncertainty about the effectiveness of the proposed remedial actions, or even whether they can be implemented. Although these considerations also exist for smaller, less complex Superfund sites, the complexity of these large geographically diverse sites like the Coeur d'Alene River basin dramatically increases the difficulty in developing workable remedies for every problem before beginning action on any of them.
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. Thus, much of the effort that has gone into evaluating and costing alternatives may not be used for the final solution.12 The development of decision documents that subsequently went unused was particularly apparent in the review of environmental protection remedies.
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These sites, of course, have the advantage over the Coeur d'Alene River basin that the government owns the entire site and, therefore, has full control over how the site will be managed and what access will be provided to the site in the future. The East Tennessee Copper Basin is a nongovernment site where EPA has demonstrated substantial flexibility under Superfund (EPA 2004d)
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EPA has also demonstrated substantial flexibility in cleaning up the Coeur d'Alene River basin. For instance, as frustrating as it may be for basin citizens and others attempting to review the agency's plans, the agency's approach to deferring the final decision about how proposed remedial actions will be implemented is practical and reasonable at
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Few Superfund sites have as broad participation from federal agencies as the Coeur d'Alene River basin. The Basin Environmental Monitoring Plan the agency has developed is much more extensive and comprehensive than normal for a Superfund site.
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MINING MEGASITES: LESSONS LEARNED 425 be used to support the full range of activities that may be desirable to establish healthy communities and ecosystems, and there is no guarantee of long-term funding that is necessary for projects that will take as long to implement and maintain as those proposed in the Coeur d'Alene River basin.14 Current rules cannot resolve the competing incentives resulting from the distinction between payment of construction costs and O&M costs under fund-financed cleanups. Finally, the liability problems that may be interfering with the adoption of some potentially effective approaches to cleanup remain a problem.
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From page 426... ...
Experience both within the Coeur d'Alene River basin and with other large sites such as the DOE weapons complex shows that protecting human health can involve a combination of cleanup and institutional controls, depending on the long-term land use projected for a site. The best approach to protecting the environment is to define biological performance goals that are also a function of future land use, and a remedy or suite of remedies should be designed to meet those performance goals.
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MINING MEGASITES: LESSONS LEARNED 427 substantially improve the results obtained from the adaptive management approach.
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EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
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From page 429... ...
Memorandum to Michael Gearheard, Director, Office of Environmen tal Cleanup EPA Region 10, from Bruce Means, Chair, National Remedy Review Board, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.
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