The Hecla Mining company has been ordered to pay $263.4 million plus interest to settle the Superfund lawsuit after nearly two decades. The lawsuit was first filed by the American Indian tribe of Coeur d’Alene in 1991. They were joined by the federal government in 1996 and later by the state government of Idaho.
Ignacia Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for The US Justice Department ‘s Environment and Natural Resources Division said that the agreement would help pay for the U.S. government’s clean-up activities, secures natural resource damages and would restore critical habitats to fish and wildlife in the Coeur d’Alene River Basin.
Coeur D’Alene-based Hecla spokeswoman Melanie Hennessey declined to comment on the decision of the court. The Bunker Hill Superfund site is considered to be amongst the most contaminated sites in the US. Although clean up operations of the Environment Protection Agency have been in evidence since the 1980s the region is still highly contaminated with lead and arsenic which was released from the silver producing mines of the valley.
Hecla Mining and Asarco Inc were charged with releasing millions of tons of mining waste into the Coeur d’Alene River and its tributaries. Asarco which made its settlement in 2008 in the suit did so as part of its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. Idaho Governor C.L. Otter said that the settlement brought decades of litigation to a close and provides a clear path to continue restoring the health of the environment, economy and communities of the Coeur d'Alene Basin.