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Department of Ecology News Release - June 2, 2006
06-095
OLYMPIA - Washington environmental officials are responding cautiously to an unusual agreement reached today between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Teck Cominco Metals, Ltd. in Canada, resulting from their negotiations over the necessary first step in getting to cleanup of the company's pollution of Lake Roosevelt.
Cominco has agreed to complete an investigation of contamination along the upper Columbia and Lake Roosevelt and conduct an evaluation of cleanup options. This will be done under EPA oversight. If Cominco complies with this agreement, a comprehensive investigation into the location and extent of heavy metal contamination will be completed in three to five years. Cleanup will take a similar length of time.
For over 90 years, Cominco and its predecessors discharged pollution into the Columbia River, which then flowed into Washington from smelter operations in Trail, British Columbia, causing significant contamination in Lake Roosevelt, the large reservoir behind Grand Coulee Dam. Several years ago the state of Washington joined the Colville Tribe in initiating litigation to force Cominco to begin the cleanup of Lake Roosevelt.
Jay Manning, Director of the Washington Department of Ecology, said today: "It is unfortunate that it took a lawsuit to get Cominco to step up to its responsibility to clean up Lake Roosevelt. Our goal has been, and will remain, protecting our citizens and our environment. If Cominco complies with the agreement announced today, we will advance the cleanup and our goal of protecting our citizens."
Ecology and the state Department of Health will watch closely to ensure that the shoreline and bottom sediments of Lake Roosevelt are studied and cleaned up to the standards necessary to protect both human health and the environment from the effects of heavy-metals pollution.
State officials are concerned that the agreement announced today is unique and untested. There is concern that it may not lead to a cleanup that adequately protects human health and the environment. In addition, the agreement limits state and tribal ability to participate fully in the cleanup process.
"This agreement is a private contract between the federal government and an international mining company," said Manning. "That departs from normal settlement and cleanup procedures under both federal and state cleanup laws. Usually, these agreements take the form of a consent order or a consent decree, which is clearly enforceable and reliably requires a polluter to clean up contamination to appropriate standards. We will hold Cominco to its word about conducting a thorough and timely investigation."
Manning added, " The state of Washington will diligently oversee this process to ensure the contamination is cleaned up adequately."
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Contact: Jani Gilbert, public information manager, 509-329-3495; cell, 509-990-9177.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
