FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ENR MONDAY, JULY 14, 1997 (202) 514-2008 TDD (202) 514-1888 ALASKA MINING COMPANY AGREES TO $4.7 MILLION ENVIRONMENTAL SETTLEMENT WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Cominco Alaska Inc. today agreed to spend more than $3 million on three environmental protection projects and pay a $1.7 million civil penalty to settle allegations that it committed hundreds of federal Clean Water Act violations. According to a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, the violations occured at the company's Red Dog Mine and the mine's Chuckchi Sea port over a four-year period. The Red Dog Mine - the world's largest lead and zinc mine - is located above the Arctic Circle within an Alaska river system which is the spawning ground for important marine and fresh-water fisheries. The settlement, which if approved by the court would settle the lawsuit, was lodged today by the Justice Department in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, Alaska on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "The consent decree brings to a close one chapter, and opens another," said Chuck Clarke, EPA's Northwest regional administrator in Seattle. "The agreement with Cominco puts the violations behind us, and marks the start of some ambitious efforts by the company to help make sure no harm comes to the aquatic resources on which native Alaskans depend." "The message here is that companies must abide by their waste discharge permits or they will pay a big price," said Lois Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "I am pleased that Cominco has agreed to perform several projects that will contribute to the health of the environment around the Red Dog Mine." "This action shows that the federal government holds polluters accountable for the damage they cause," said Steve Herman, EPA Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "Besides paying a significant penalty for its multiple violations of the Clean Water Act, the settlement requires Cominco to assess the extent of current and potential ground and surface water contamination, and to take steps to prevent future harm to the marine life and the watershed in and around the Red Dog Mine." The three environmental projects Cominco will fund are designed to provide long-term protection to aquatic life and water quality in the watershed system surrounding the Red Dog Mine, which is located north of the Arctic Circle, about 90 miles north of Kotzebue and 50 miles inland from the Chukchi Sea. A road connects the mine to a port on the sea. Under the today's agreement, Cominco will: * conduct long-term, ongoing groundwater and permafrost monitoring to learn whether contaminated wastewater from the Red Dog tailings pond is seeping or could seep into groundwater and, from there into surface waters. Cominco estimates the groundwater monitoring program will cost more than $2.7 million to develop and install, plus $210,000 a year for maintenance and operation; * construct a barrier to keep native fish populations away from Red Dog mine discharges at an estimated cost of $238,000, plus $7000 in annual maintenance expenses; * conduct a study to determine whether the mine discharges are affecting the health of aquatic life in and around the Red Dog Creek system, at an estimated cost of $98,000. The lead and zinc ore are mined from an open pit, milled into a concentrate and then hauled to the port. Wastewater and mine tailings from the mine are stored in a 200-acre impoundment covering the former bed of the south fork of Red Dog Creek. The government's lawsuit, filed at the same time as the proposed settlement, alleged several hundred violations of the allowable limits for metals and pH contained in the mine's federal wastewater permit. It also alleges unpermitted discharges of sanitary waste from a temporary housing facility at the mine site. In addition, the lawsuit alleged more than a thousand violations from 1990 to 1993 at Cominco's sanitary sewage treatment system at the port. The settlement lodged today is subject to public comment and court approval. A notice of the proposed settlement will be published in the Federal Register. That notice will launch the start of the 30-day public comment period. ### 97-294