FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ENR FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1997 (202) 514-2008 TDD (202) 514-1888 UNITED STATES SUES MORE COMPANIES IN EFFORT TO RESTORE IDAHO PANHANDLE DEVASTATED BY YEARS OF MINING WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The United States today asked a federal district court for permission to sue 23 additional companies for contributing to environmental damage to more than 1,500 square miles of the Coeur d'Alene River Basin in northern Idaho. The cost of restoring the river and other natural resources in the surrounding area is estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The amended complaint was filed today by the Justice Department in U.S. District Court in Boise. It seeks to add defendants to a 1996 lawsuit brought by the federal government under the Superfund cleanup law against eight other mining companies: ASARCO, Hecla Mining Company, Sunshine Mining Company, Coeur d'Alene Mines, and affiliates of these companies. Today's action is part of an overall effort by the federal government to clean up and restore an area contaminated by more than 100 years of mining. Massive amounts of mining wastes, including lead and arsenic, have been deposited into the basin and continue to seep into soils and waters of the Idaho panhandle. "We need these companies to pay their fair share in order to clean up the Coeur d'Alene Basin. A partial solution will still leave tons of dangerous sediments in the river basin," said Lois Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "It is only fair that those responsible for contaminating the environment and damaging natural resources pay to clean up the damage." The District Court gave the federal government until today to add any new defendants to the original lawsuit. The damage to the Coeur d'Alene River Basin is so extensive that it cannot be cleaned up and restored without the assistance of the companies named in the suit. The federal government intends to open negotiations with all of the new defendants to see if they are interested in an early settlement that will meet the government's cleanup goals. The Justice Department filed this action on behalf of the Interior Department, the Agriculture Department, and the Environmental Protection Agency. A list of the proposed additional defendants is attached. ### 97-358