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Idaho Mining Company Settles $90,000 Penalty
Release Date: 1/27/1998
Contact Information: Jim Corpuz
[email protected]
(206) 553-8332 or 1-800-424-4372
January 27, 1998 - - - - - - - - - - 98-2
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Sunshine Mining and Refining Company has reached settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over an EPA complaint that alleged federal Clean Water Act violations at the company's mine-mill-refinery complex near Kellogg, Idaho.
Sunshine agreed to the assessment of a $90,000 civil penalty, but EPA will allow the company to pay only $22,500 as long as Sunshine fulfills its commitment to spend at least $67,500 on improvements that will reduce the flow of wastewater to the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River and Big Creek.
Announcement of the settlement was announced today by Chuck Clarke, EPA's Northwest regional administrator in Seattle. "Sunshine's willingness to recycle wastewater at Kellogg, and to use less in the first place, will mean a lot more for the environment than the federal government collecting a big fine," Clarke declared. "Sunshine's efforts will pay off with cleaner water in Big Creek and the South Fork."
The EPA complaint, issued last May as an administrative action, alleged 49 violations of various conditions in Sunshine's wastewater discharge permit between 1992 and 1996. The permit puts limits on the concentrations of heavy metals in the discharges, regulates the acidity-alkalinity balance of the wastewater, and holds the volume of the liquid wastes to certain prescribed levels.
In agreeing to the settlement, Sunshine neither admitted nor denied the allegations in the complaint. Clarke said both the company and EPA believed that settlement of the case with further proceedings was in the public interest.
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