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