Superfund vs. Mega-Sites: The Coeur d\u27Alene River Basin Story

Stretching across the panhandle of northern Idaho, the Coeur d\u27Alene River Basin evokes a mixed sense of wonder. Within this vast region of mountains and marshes, forests and farmland, creeks and canyons, a vibrant mining industry emerged more than a century ago. Along with the mining industry came the mining towns-and the mining pollution. Over time, the volume of mining wastes discharged into waters of the Coeur d\u27Alene Basin reached Brobdingnagian proportions: enough waste to fill a football field with a pile four miles high

Restoring the Shining Waters : Milltown, Montana and the History of Superfund Implementation

This dissertation is a case study of a dam removal and river restoration within the nation\u27s largest Superfund site. In 1981, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency included Milltown Reservoir on its first list of Superfund sites. Superfund law capped two decades of the federal government\u27s most aggressive environmental legislation. While tracking the national story of Superfund law, my story provides a local view of how individuals, organizations, and agencies shaped the Superfund process. After the EPA designated Milltown a national Superfund site, the environment itself, persistent work within the channels of public policy, and federally-mediated compromise helped restore some shine to Milltown\u27s waters. Milltown is representational, rather than unique. Human health concerns, which were the primary purpose of Superfund, garnered Milltown designation. Arsenic contaminated the groundwater in a residential community. Groundwater contamination has been the most consistent and worrisome risk throughout the history of designating Superfund sites, while arsenic tops the list of contaminants reported at those sites. Nearly a century of upstream mining caused Milltown\u27s problem. Mining sites cost more and occur more frequently than any other Superfund cleanups. Two major corporations were responsible for funding cleanup at Milltown, whereas nearly half of all Superfund sites have two to ten responsible parties. Thus, Milltown is exceptionally representative of Superfund\u27s history. Using extensive archival research, government documents, oral histories, newspaper accounts and personal observation, I have written a dissertation that explores how Milltown provoked major changes in Superfund implementation and late-20th century environmentalism. The final remedy at Milltown removed an average-sized dam and restored a section of the Clark Fork River. The process increased the importance of public input in Superfund and its emphasis on restoring environments. That shift coincided with a turn toward repairing degraded landscapes by both grassroots and national environmental groups. Milltown helped foster the growth of a corporate, restoration industry. And, it helped define restoration, while pushing restorative efforts beyond the confines of its Superfund boundaries

Public Involvement in Long-Term Stewardship Sites of the Superfund Program

Active public involvement can support effective long-term stewardship (LTS) programs, which protect public health and the environment during the operation of long-term remedies. Although public involvement is important for the success of LTS programs, much of literature about public involvement focuses more on the whole cleanup process and less on the LTS phase. Therefore, our project attempted to provide more information about public involvement at LTS sites. To accomplish this, we identified LTS sites with high public involvement and interviewed associated EPA officials. Based on our findings from interviews, and review of site reports and five-year reviews, we provided a set of conclusions, as well as recommendations for EPA to increase public involvement