COEUR d'ALENE - Hundreds of millions in settlement payments will start to flow for more mining waste cleanup, now that the final legal barrier has been removed.

Following a hearing in Coeur d'Alene on Thursday, a U.S. District Court judge approved a $263.4 million settlement resolving all claims against Hecla Mining Company for its environmental damage in the Coeur d'Alene Basin Superfund Site.

The decision by Judge Edward Lodge frees up the Coeur d'Alene company to make payments, plus interest, to the federal government, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and the state of Idaho to fund further cleanup efforts.

"It's very gratifying to have this stage of it complete, and now we can get on with cleanup and restoration," said Howard Funke, legal representative for the Tribe. "Hopefully very meaningful things can be done to restore the Coeur d'Alene Basin."

This is among the largest cash settlements achieved under Superfund.

The terms were announced in June, ending a 20-year lawsuit over injuries to clean water and animals caused by millions of tons of mining waste released into the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River and its tributaries.

This is a pivotal victory for the tribe, Funke said, which initiated the lawsuit against multiple mining companies in 1991. The federal government joined as a plaintiff five years later.

"It's definitely a sense of accomplishment," he said.

Hecla will pay the settlement over a three-year period, the first payment of $167 million payable by Oct. 8 this year.

About $65.9 million of the total settlement will be used for restoration purposes, coordinated by natural resource trustees including the Coeur d'Alene Tribe.

Of that sum, $5 million will be given directly to the tribe, with $4 million as reimbursement for restoration efforts it conducted already, and $1 million to help implement the Coeur d'Alene Lake Management Plan.

The LMP is aimed at maintaining lake health, so the roughly 80 million tons of tailings in the water body remain safely on the bottom.

"That will go toward conducting the work associated with that plan," Funke said.

He predicted many jobs will be created for restoration work to improve water, fisheries and wildlife in the basin, he said.

"It's going to take decades," Funke said. "The contamination is so pervasive and widespread. It's like trying to put Mother Earth in a position where she can heal herself after awhile."

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality will use the remaining $197.5 million from the settlement for contamination cleanup at the Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Superfund site, spanning Shoshone, Kootenai and Benewah counties.

The Hecla dollars will help fund the years of work remaining to clean residential yards tainted with lead and other heavy metals, said Bill Adams, EPA project manager.

Also, the settlement will help fund the proposed Upper Basin Cleanup Plan, expected to be officially laid out in an ROD Amendment by December, Adams said.

Even with the windfall, Adams added, the EPA is still committed to cutting down the plan first proposed at $1.3 billion, which many scorned as excessive.

"We're still focused on making those changes," Adams said.

The settlement also dictates for the EPA to coordinate cleanup efforts around Hecla's exploration and development, Funke pointed out.

"I don't know that that's been done anywhere else, where there's a coordinated, structured cooperation moving forward with cleanup, as well as mining in an environmentally sensitive manner," he said. "It's a good balance."

The settlement was proposed in a consent decree, which was subject to federal court approval.

A Hecla press release stated that the company has sufficient cash on hand to fulfill the settlement obligations, as well as meet all its capital, pre-development and exploration requirements this year.

"As one of the largest private employers in North Idaho, we look forward to working in concert with our various stakeholders for a prosperous Silver Valley," said Phillips S. Baker Jr., Hecla president and CEO.