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$100,000 EPA Grant Spurs Smelterville Efforts to Reclaim Former Service Stations

Release Date: 7/1/2002
Contact Information: Bill Dunbar
dunbar.bill@epamail.epa.gov
(206) 553-1203

July 1, 2002
The Environmental Protection Agency today announced that the agency will provide $100,000 to a Smelterville effort to remove at least 12 to 15 underground storage tanks in the community.

The tanks have contained or still contain gasoline and/or MTBE, a highly toxic gasoline additive that rapidly reaches and contaminates groundwater once it has leaked out of a tank. The tanks and any associated contamination will be removed from four sites along Main Street, a mixed residential and commercial area that is part of Smelterville’s designated revitalization project. Once the tanks are removed, sidewalks and landscaping will be constructed to add value to the properties and remove liabilities for any potential new occupants of the commercial properties.

The tanks in Smelterville are of particular concern due to their susceptibility to corrosion by the highly acidic soil and groundwater.

The State of Idaho is providing $10,000 for the project, while the City of Smelterville, the Panhandle Health District and the Silver Valley Economic Development Corporation are providing significant in-kind assistance.

The $100,000 grant to Smelterville is part of a multi-million dollar EPA program to cleanup contamination at abandoned underground storage tank sites that are hampering communities’ efforts to redevelop and improve areas on or around the tanks.