In central Idaho, the Triumph Mine produced silver, lead, and zinc from the late 1800s into the 1950s. But since shuttering operations decades ago, the mine has been an environmental hazard, with abandoned tunnels and tailings piles leaching arsenic and other heavy metals into nearby waterways.
In the 1990s, the mining company responsible for the site and the state came to an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to clean it up, subject to federal Clean Water Act standards. They got to work removing toxic soils, managing contaminated discharge water, and plugging the old mine tunnel with concrete. Then, the company went bankrupt, leaving the state on the hook for the rest of the mess. Conservationists wanted to get involved to protect the nearby Big Wood River from further contamination, but federal liability laws stood in their way.
