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Lead Contaminated Superfund Sites Sam
Johnson Loyola University Chicago
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Abstract
The Coeur dAlene Superfund Site
Sites within the United States
The Superfund program was created in 1980 in
response to the Love canal Disaster. The program
was implemented during the Regan administration
and was regulated and enforced by the
Environmental Protection Agency. The main goals
of the program were to identify contaminated
sites, determine the responsible parties, and to
finance the cost of cleanup when the responsible
parties are unknown or unable. Most of the
largest superfund sites are areas where mining
activity was previously high. The former presence
of lead mines in particular pose a very
significant threat to the environment, as the
toxic nature of lead contamination has left a
very detrimental impact in their wake. Since its
formation, the superfund program has drawn much
criticism regarding its effectiveness as a viable
government program. The programs reputation has
been marred by ineffectiveness and problems in
administration. Its critics view it as a largely
bureaucratic process that consumes millions of
dollars each year. Yet, the superfund program has
been an essential concept in the damage control
measures undertaken since the close of many
prominent lead mines.
Below is a map of current superfund sites in the
United States. At present, there are 1,240 sites
listed on the Superfund National Priority List.

• Coeur dAlene, Idaho is the former site of
  several major lead mines, as well as some
  currently active mines. It has been historically
  known for its abundance of lead and silver and
  has produced very large quantities of each since
  mining began in the late 1800s. The major area
  of mining activity is known as the Bunker Hill
  region.
• Due to the large amounts of mining, the area has
  given off much pollution that has seeped into the
  Coeur dAlene river valley. An estimated 121
  million tons of metals-enriched mine tailings
  were produced by the mines, with about 62 million
  tons going into the river basins streams.
• The topography of the region is characterized by
  many rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands.
  Thousands of acres in the region have been
  contaminated with lead from the mining
  operations. This has had a very detrimental
  impact upon the waterfowl that inhabit the
  region. An estimated 18,000 acres contain lead
  levels that are toxic to waterfowl and other
  animals.
• In the 1970s blood lead levels in children that
  lived in areas around the bunker hill site were
  elevated. Since the site has closed, blood lead
  levels are now approaching that of same-age
  children in the general U.S. population.
• The site was placed on the National Priority List
  in 1983. It initially consisted of a 21 square
  mile box around the original smelting site. In
  1998, the EPA began placing superfund
  requirements outside of the box, expanding the
  project site to 1500 square miles. The solution
  to the increased project area was an investment
  of 395 million over a thirty year period.
• Coeur dAlene poses one of the most significant
  challenges to superfund cleanup. The vast size of
  the area and amount of hazardous material prevent
  traditional cleanup approaches, such as capping
  and removal, from being used. Parts of the
  community infrastructure are built on top and out
  of mining waste. The site encompasses thousands
  of people across several political jurisdictions
  and has proven to be a very complex, extensive,
  and expensive site to cleanup. In addition, the
  responsible parties are either unable or
  unwilling to pay for the remaining cleanup costs.

Superfund Overview

• - The superfund program was created by the
  government in response to what is known as the
• Love Canal incident, which consisted of the
  discovery of a large quantity of toxic waste
• beneath the Love Canal neighborhood in Niagra
  Falls, New York. It was created with the
• passage of the Comprehensive Environmental
  Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
• (CERCLA).
• The program was initially headed by Rita Lavelle,
  a former employee of a company
• responsible for polluting the environment. Her
  administration imposed many industry favorable
• policies that prevented significant action from
  taking place.
• In 1986, Lavelle resigned from her position and
  congress passed the Superfund
• Amendments and Reauthorization Act, which
  increased the budget to 9 billion and allowed
• for new technologies and studies to be
  implemented.
• Superfund is provided broad federal authority in
  the clean up of existing or potential
• hazardous releases. Currently, the number of
  listed superfund sites is 1,240, with 317 sites
• recently de-listed and 61 proposed sites.
• The cost of cleanup is usually deferred on to the
  company responsible for the pollution.

The Implementation of Adaptive Management

• Adaptive management refers to a six-step process
  for defining and implementing environmental
  management actions in situations of high
  uncertainty regarding the outcome. The process
  consists of these six steps
• 1) Assessing the Problem This consists of
  determining the scope of the problem and defining
  measurable management objectives as well as
  potential management actions. Key uncertainties
  are also defined in regards to alternate
  management actions.
• 2) Designing a Management Plan Different types
  of management actions are evaluated in terms of
  their potential effectiveness. A monitoring
  protocol is also developed to specify the types
  and quantities of baseline data. Indicator values
  that may specify a change in management
  actions/objectives are also defined.
• 3) Implementing the Plan The management plan is
  implemented as specified. Any circumstance that
  requires that the plan deviate from its intended
  course must be identified and understood by all
  stakeholders.
• 4) Monitoring Implementation monitoring must
  include three parts monitoring for compliance,
  monitoring for effectiveness, and monitoring to
  validate the model parameters and relationships.
• 5) Evaluating results obtained from monitoring A
  comparison between the evaluations drawn from
  monitoring are compared with those forecasted in
  step one.
• 6) Adjusting the Management Plan Models involved
  in the initial forecast should be updated and the
  objectives of management should possibly be
  reviewed and revised as necessary.

Restoring Bunker Hill

• One of the primary ways in which to prevent the
  further spread of contaminants throughout the
  Coeur dAlene river is through ecological
  restoration.
• Recently, there has been a major project
  involving the revegetation of the soils.
  Revegetation involves using specially designed
  residuals such as biosolids and wood ash in order
  to promote the growth of vegetative ground cover.
  
• Phytotoxicity was caused by high concentrations
  of trace metals, low pH, low soil nutrients and
  organic matter, and poor soil physical
  properties. Wood ash contains much calcium
  carbonate, which can resolve soil acidity.
  Biosolids can limit metal toxicity and serve as a
  slow release nutrient source. They can also
  provide organic matter that improves soil tilth.
  The applications of these biosolids and wood ash
  can remedy these problems in the subsoil and
  support vegetative growth.
• The results of this program were highly
  successful. The researchers were able to
  demonstrate that revegetation can occur reliably
  over the majority of the site area and the plants
  that were grown were very similar in metal
  content to that of plants grown in uncontaminated
  soil.

References
-Barnthouse, L.W., Brierly, C.L., Clark, E.H.,
Ward, C.H. (2007). Superfund and Mining
Megasites. Environmental Science Technology (8)
41. 2667-2672. -Moore, J.W., Nguyen, K.T.,
Rotstein, P.H. (1997). Successful Soil
Stabilization at a Lead Contaminated Superfund
Site. Hazardous Industrial Wastes (29). 165-173.
-Rosen, J.F. (2003). A Critical Evaluation of
Public Health Programs at the Bunker Hill
Superfund Site. Science of the Total Environment
(1-2) 303. 15-23. -Sheldrake, S., Stifelman, M.
(2003). A Case Study of Lead Contamination
Cleanup Effectiveness at Bunker Hill. Science of
the Total Environment (1-2) 303. 105-123.
Hells Half-Acre in Galena, Kansas. Dec. 2006
Two photographs taken from the Bunker Hill site
during the revegetation project.