The cleanup is complex.

Concerns about the efficiency and obstacles of mining waste cleanup were raised by both members of the public and agency spokespeople on Wednesday night at a meeting of the Citizen Coordinating Council for the Basin Environmental Improvement Project Commission.

Terry Harwood, executive director of the BEIPC, walked through possible concerns with the Proposed Upper Basin Cleanup Plan, which the Environmental Protection Agency has released for public comment.

Some of the agency's descriptions of the mostly ecological cleanup are misleading, he said.

In particular, a statement that upper basin cleanup will reduce metal concentrations in surface water to levels safe for drinking.

"You think they'll make it so clean you can drop a glass in the North Fork and take a drink," Harwood said. "I think they're looking at it from a chemical quality standpoint, but not looking at filtering out (water bacteria) and chloroform bacteria."

He also worried about the $39 million cost of proposed cleanup actions in the Bunker Hill Box, which won't qualify to be funded by the ASARCO bankruptcy settlement.

"They're going to have to come up with that $39 million from someone, somewhere," Harwood said.

Vera Williams, CCC co-chair, said such funding issues would be further addressed at the next meeting on Aug. 18.

Serena Carlson, a consultant working for HECLA Mining Company, questioned some of the proposed cleanup methods, like piping contaminated water out of Canyon Creek and into a water treatment plant. She pointed out the water will be put back, but in Kellogg.

"Doesn't that de-water the river quite a bit?" Carlson said. "It seems funny to me that you're saving the fishery by de-watering it."

Harwood said the EPA was preparing a water budget to address such questions.

"They did tell me it wouldn't de-water the fishery," he said.

Carlson also wondered why so much of the upper basin effort would focus on zinc cleanup.

"That's not considered a human health issue," she said.

Andy Mork with the Department of Environmental Quality pointed out that it is a primary concern for fish health, and that the proposed plan is primarily for ecological cleanup.

Harwood emphasized that the EPA is open to public input on prioritizing cleanup projects.

"This is the first time I've seen the EPA accommodate building a work list that much with the local community," he said.

Locals can participate by attending meetings of Project Focus Teams, charged with developing cleanup projects, he said, as well as CCC meetings.

Jeri DeLange with the BEIPC said surveys about people's Superfund questions would be given out at an upcoming open house and public meeting on Aug. 4 in Smelterville.

Denna Grangaard with the DEQ discussed a recent meeting with various agencies over prompting parents to bring children in for blood lead testing.

The test reveals whether children have been exposed to mining waste, Grangaard pointed out, yet some parents don't consider it a priority.

"It isn't worth the hassle of bringing in the kids," she said.

Some ideas are being considered to lure families in, she said, like more advertising or incentives.

One idea was to offer a larger cash reward for every consecutive year children test, she said.

"They would get $20 the first visit, and the next consecutive year get $40," Grangaard said.

Mork gave an update on repositories that will be the destination of excavated mining waste.

Environmental, cultural and other impact studies are going to be conducted on the sites for the planned Osburn and Star repositories, he said.

Such studies will also be conducted this summer on the proposed expansion of the north end of the Big Creek repository. Site prep activities are expected to begin in spring 2011, he said.

More construction is also planned for the East Mission Flats repository this summer, Mork said, including a sump on the west end, and a concrete pad for waste disposal on the east end.

"All remedial work is dependent on the availability of repositories," he said.