Old West mining law haunts Spokane River
David Moershel, Special to The Spokesman-Review, March 29, 2008

I am one of the increasing number of people who recreate on the Spokane River. It is wonderful to have a river that gives us opportunities for fishing and floating along with beautiful scenery right at our doorstep.

Sadly, the Spokane River – our hometown pride – suffers a heavy burden of toxic pollution from more than a century of mining for gold, silver and other valuable metals in the Coeur d'Alene-Spokane River Basin. While mining yielded great wealth and work, these benefits came at a cost to our living environment. Over the years, mines and smelters in the region, particularly upstream in Idaho's Silver Valley, spewed millions of tons of lead, arsenic, cadmium and other toxins into our skies and rivers.

Most of the mines are closed. However, they left an enormous toxic mess behind, which has led to health problems associated with heavy metal poisoning. Each time the Spokane River floods, more toxics are stirred up, washed downstream and deposited on sandbars and along the shoreline. In some places, the soil contains dangerous amounts of lead, far exceeding what the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe.

Among those most vulnerable to these toxins are children who play along the river and recreational fishermen who eat their catch. The state Department of Health has advised people to limit the number of fish they eat from the Spokane River because of concerns about lead poisoning.

As a pediatrician, I've seen the effects lead can have on a child. Lead is a persistent toxin that causes brain damage and lifelong health problems. It concentrates in fish and other food and is passed from a mother to her child through breast milk.

Ours isn't the only river under threat: According to the EPA, mining has polluted 40 percent of the headwaters of watersheds across the West. There is a sorry legacy of abandoned mines that leak toxins into our streams and rivers. The Washington Department of Ecology estimates that there are 3,800 abandoned mines in the Evergreen State, many around Spokane. And this doesn't include the Superfund mine sites on EPA's list of toxic hot spots that pose an imminent risk to human health or wildlife, like the Coeur d'Alene-Spokane River Basin site.

The problem is the General Mining Act of 1872, which is still on the books. Intended to spur development of the West, the law contains no environmental safeguards or dedicated funding to clean up abandoned mines. It allows mining to trump all other public land uses, such as drinking water and places to paddle and fish, and it allows mining companies to remove billions of dollars worth of minerals from our public lands for free – unlike the oil, gas and coal industries, which pay federal royalties. Such policies are foolish and unfair, especially when taxpayers, not the industry, often foot the bill for expensive mine cleanups.

The good news is that Congress is poised to overhaul the 1872 mining Law. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a comprehensive bill last year that would fix just about everything that is wrong with the old law. U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell is a champion of reform in the Senate, which will consider its own version of the law this spring. And just in time. High metals prices have sparked a new mining boom in the West with new claims cropping up in Washington, all of which could be developed under the "Old West" rules unless Congress acts soon.

Like most people, I simply want to enjoy the river, knowing that it is being cared for. The House-passed mining reform bill would help achieve that goal. It's time for the Senate to follow suit and ensure that the people of Spokane – and all across the West – have clean, healthy, vibrant rivers for generations to come.