United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-97-062
May 1997
&EPA
Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilot
Panhandle Health District, ID
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101)
Quick Reference Fact Sheet
EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower States, communities, and other
stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and
sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and
an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. Between 1995 and 1996, EPA funded 76 National and Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of brownfields
solutions. EPAis funding morethan 27 Pilots in 1997. The Pilots are intended to provide EPA, States, Tribes, municipalities,
and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods to promote a unified
approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.
BACKGROUND
EPA Region 10 selected Silver Valley, Idaho for
a Regional Brownfields Pilot. The Silver Valley
was home to one of the largest mining operations
in the country before the smelters closed in 1981.
The Silver Valley area includes one of the largest
Superfund sites in the nation. The towns of Kellogg,
Pinehurst, Smelterville, and Wardner, which
together have apopulation of 7,550, are within the
boundary of the 21 square mile Bunker Hill
Superfund site. Heavy metals contamination is
widespread in soils, streams, and groundwater.
Past emissions have severely harmed vegetation,
and mill tailings have kept much of the slopes and
valley floor defoliated. Contamination concerns
and mine layoffs have negatively affected property
values and the employment rate in the Valley,
although both appear to have stabilized and have
shown promising improvements. The $210 million
cleanup of the site is underway and progressing.
This brownfields cooperative agreement will assist
the entire Silver Valley in overcoming the
environmental stigma associated with
redevelopment of the area.
OBJECTIVES
The focus of the Panhandle Health District's
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Panhandle Health District,
Idaho
Date of Award:
September 1996
Amount: $98,000
Site Profile: The Pilot
targets a 21-square mile
site encompassing a
former mine, where
contamination from heavy
metals is present in soil,
streams, and
groundwater.
Contacts:
Jerry Cobb
Panhandle Health District 1
(208) 783-0707
Lori Cohen
U.S. EPA-Region 10
(206) 553-6523
cohen.lori@epamial.epa.gov
Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields
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brownfields' effort is to plan for and assist in
supporting new business in the Valley. Economic
development planning has been stymied by industry
misconceptions, ignorance of environmental law,
and fear of liability. Even after Federal cleanup,
economic rebirth will not occur until the stigma of
environmental contamination is removed. The
governments of the four towns affected by the
Superfund site as well as other towns in the Valley
will be cooperating with the county, regional health
authority, and local, State, and Federal economic
development agencies to address the Valley's
problems and demonstrate the merits and viability of
new business growth in the area.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot is:
• Preparing abusiness development guide thatprovides
direction and support for the appropriate
redevelopment of affected brownfields property in
the Silver Valley;
• Producing a video educating viewers about
brownfields issues and on the advantages of
establishing a business in Silver Valley;
• Developing a Web Page about the Silver Valley
Pilot for the Internet; and
• Conducting an economic summit conference to
show how liability and contamination are no longer
major barriers to redevelopment of the area. The
conference will target private enterprise, lending
institutions, regional and State government,
economic development organizations, and business
recruiters and brokers.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the Panhandle Health District Pilot
has been a catalyst for related activities including the
following.
• The Washington Water Power Company spent
$60,000 to advertise and promote local, underutilized
industrial sites. Washington Water Power plans to
bring new jobs to redeveloped Silver Valley
brownfields sites.
Regional Brownfields Assessment Pilot Panhandle Health District, Idaho
May 1997 EPA 500-F-97-062
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