Case Study: 
Natural Resources Damages and the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes

DGS environmental litigation attorneys, Bob Lawrence and Gail Wurtzler, defended the Union Pacific Railroad Company against claims for hundreds of millions of dollars asserted against several mining companies and the Railroad in a CERCLA natural resource damages action in the U.S. District Court of Idaho.  The State of Idaho, the United States and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe sought, among other things, damages from Union Pacific and several mining companies for alleged injury to their respective natural resources in the Coeur d’Alene Basin.  DGS attorneys represented UP in all phases of this litigation and settlement negotiations, and through a creative application of environmental and transportation law resolved both the NRD and remediation issues with these plaintiffs by a Consent Decree that the Court entered in August 2000.   As part of that settlement, UP agreed to undertake a Rails-To-Trails conversion of its73-mile long Wallace-Mullan Branch right-of-way to create the “Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes.  As part of the trail conversion process, metals contamination found in the former railbed was removed or capped in place.  At the same time, the trail and trail amenities were installed and historic railroad structures were preserved and adapted to the trail use.  The project required close coordination and cooperation with EPA, the State of Idaho, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, the Surface Transportation Board, the communities located along the right-of-way, historic preservation officials and many others.  After a number of years of hard work, the  “Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes” was completed and opened to the public in June 2004.  The Trail provides a valuable recreational and tourist amenity to the Silver Valley region of Idaho.  It draws substantial numbers of bicyclists, pedestrians, rail buffs and others anxious to tour the historic mining and railroad areas and enjoy the unsurpassed scenery along the Coeur d’Alene River and the shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

The Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes is among the most significant and innovative remediation projects in the U.S.  and will be presented with EPA’s Phoenix Award on Tuesday, November 14, as a part of EPA’s Brownfields 2006 in Boston on November 13-15.  The Phoenix Award is widely recognized as the outstanding award for achievement of excellence in brownfield redevelopment, and often is called “the Brownfields equivalent of Hollywood’s Oscar”.   The winners represent outstanding brownfield projects from each of the ten U.S. EPA regions.