Lodging of Consent Decree Pursuant To the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

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