[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