delta

Waste Consolidation Area Project Focus Team

Waste Consolidation Area Project Focus Team

The Coeur d’Alene Basin Cleanup is also known as the Bunker Hill Mining & Metallurgical Complex Superfund Site. It is located in northern Idaho and eastern Washington, in one of the largest historical mining districts in the world. The Coeur d’Alene Basin Cleanup is one of the nation’s largest and most complex Superfund sites. In 2018, the U.S. Environmental Agency (EPA) released a Strategic Plan that describes the requirements, goals and objectives that are the framework for planning cleanup of the Lower Basin of the Coeur d’Alene River (Lower Basin).  One of the necessary elements for controlling sources of metals to Lake Coeur d’Alene (Idaho), and for protecting human health and the environment, is the construction of waste consolidation areas (WCAs) or regional repositories.  For cleanup to progress in the Lower Basin, specifically reducing mobilization of contaminated sediments from the Coeur d’Alene River, EPA’s goal is to have one or more Lower Basin WCAs ready to accept waste materials within the next 3 to 5 years.  A Lower Basin WCA Project Focus Team (PFT) was assembled to review the proposed WCA siting locations for disposal of waste materials from the Dudley Reach pilot project. Keystone provided facilitation support to several meetings of the PFT.