Media Manager

COEUR D'ALENE - The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ) has approved a corrective action plan to address alleged environmental impacts of the reconstruction of U.S. 95 from Bellgrove to Mica Creek in 2001-02, the Idaho Transportation Department announced.

The plan has three elements:

• Removing sediment from sections of the South Fork Mica Creek;
• Providing reimbursement to the Mica Bay homeowners that replied to a water intake survey in 2003, and indicated that their system may have been adversely affected by turbid conditions in the bay sometime since fall 2001; and
• Contributing $25,190 to the Mica Bay Nutrient Reduction Project. This Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ) project will stabilize the lower 900 feet of Mica Creek and restore adjacent wetlands.

"We believe the plan corrects the impacts the construction project may have caused," Scott Stokes, the transportation department district engineer, said. "It is a positive step in keeping our commitment to protecting the environment."

ITD will also develop a Supplemental Environmental project and submit it to DEQ for approval. For the Supplemental Environmental project, the transportation department is proposing to contribute $70,000 to the Idaho Department of Lands for sediment reduction projects in the North Fork Mica Creek watershed.

The Supplemental Environmental project is being undertaken in connection with a settlement of an enforcement action taken by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality for alleged violations of the requirements of the Idaho Water Quality Standards and Wastewater Treatment Requirements.

With the development of the Corrective Action Plan, ITD is moving forward to implement the plan, according to District Engineer Stokes. "ITD is committed to complete the corrective action plan elements as quickly as possible to restore areas that may have been impacted as a result of the U.S. 95 Bellgrove to Mica Creek construction project," he noted.