BOISE — An environmental group has filed a federal lawsuit contending state officials are violating federal law by failing to prevent toxic discharge from the abandoned Triumph Mine in central Idaho.
The Idaho Conservation League in the lawsuit filed last month says Idaho officials are discharging arsenic and other pollutants from the former silver and lead mine into the East Fork of the Big Wood River in violation of the Clean Water Act.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1993 proposed adding the mine to the national Superfund list. But local residents fearing a drop in property values opposed the listing as did officials in Blaine County, which relies heavily on tourism.
Idaho then took over responsibility for the mine in a deal with the EPA. The mining company filed for bankruptcy.
