Bunker Hill Smelter EPA superfund site (Kellogg, Idaho)
| metallurgy, waste, tailings, environmental protection agency
USA /
Idaho /
Smelterville /
Kellogg, Idaho
World
/ USA
/ Idaho
/ Smelterville
World / United States / Idaho
metallurgy, waste, smelter, tailings, environmental protection agency
This is the site of a large lead-zinc smelter with adjoining sulphuric acid and fertilizer plants that operated until 1981. The lead smelter opened in 1917 on the south side of McKinley Avenue (at the southwest end of this area), and a zinc plant and refinery was built along Government Gulch in 1928.
While they produced a significant portion of America's lead, silver and zinc during their heyday, Bunker Hill together with other mining and ore processors also left behind a legacy of serious pollution in the Coeur d'Alene Basin. In addition to unleashing millions of cubic yards of contaminated slag, tailings and other mine waste to the countryside and the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River, mining and smelting operations at Bunker Hill were responsible for large-scale airborne lead deposition.
The impact: public health monitoring of Silver Valley children, beginning in the mid-70s, revealed some of the highest blood-lead levels ever recorded.
EPA turned to the Superfund trust fund to provide the resources for cleaning up the contaminated complex.
EPA later hired the Corps of Engineers to provide construction management for the project. The Corps brought in Morrison Knudsen in 1995 to demolish and dispose of over 200 buildings.
Since 1995, those buildings -- and nearly one million cubic yards of contaminated soils from the three gulches in the area -- have been buried in a 32-acre landfill that was constructed on top of the old lead smelter. As part of a 1996 Memorial Day celebration, Engineering Demolition, Inc., razed the facility's two smelter stacks (610 and 715 feet tall) with explosives.
Huge quantities of contaminated tailings were removed from the Coeur D'Alene River and permanently contained in the Central Impoundment Area, which was then revegetated.
While they produced a significant portion of America's lead, silver and zinc during their heyday, Bunker Hill together with other mining and ore processors also left behind a legacy of serious pollution in the Coeur d'Alene Basin. In addition to unleashing millions of cubic yards of contaminated slag, tailings and other mine waste to the countryside and the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River, mining and smelting operations at Bunker Hill were responsible for large-scale airborne lead deposition.
The impact: public health monitoring of Silver Valley children, beginning in the mid-70s, revealed some of the highest blood-lead levels ever recorded.
EPA turned to the Superfund trust fund to provide the resources for cleaning up the contaminated complex.
EPA later hired the Corps of Engineers to provide construction management for the project. The Corps brought in Morrison Knudsen in 1995 to demolish and dispose of over 200 buildings.
Since 1995, those buildings -- and nearly one million cubic yards of contaminated soils from the three gulches in the area -- have been buried in a 32-acre landfill that was constructed on top of the old lead smelter. As part of a 1996 Memorial Day celebration, Engineering Demolition, Inc., razed the facility's two smelter stacks (610 and 715 feet tall) with explosives.
Huge quantities of contaminated tailings were removed from the Coeur D'Alene River and permanently contained in the Central Impoundment Area, which was then revegetated.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunker_Hill_Mine_and_Smelting_Complex
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 47°32'15"N 116°9'18"W
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