The TIFO Story
TerraGraphics International Foundation (TIFO) was founded in 2012 by Drs. Margrit von Braun and Ian von Lindern, in response to growing global disparities in environmental health.
TIFO is the nonprofit successor to the TerraGraphics Environmental Engineering (TGEE)/University of Idaho International Initiative. This partnership brought together technical expertise and academic insight to address complex environmental contamination issues in the U.S., including significant remediation efforts at the Bunker Hill Superfund Site.
Recognizing the need to adapt hazardous waste cleanup methods to the cultural and economic realities of low- and middle-income countries, the Initiative expanded its work internationally. TIFO was established to carry this mission forward, with a focus on protecting public health, reducing toxic exposures, and building lasting capacity in impacted communities around the world.
Bunker Hill is part of TIFO’s origin story. It shapes how we approach our work. The response to the lead poisoning tragedy offers critical lessons that guide our engagement with mining-impacted communities around the world. But Bunker Hill also holds lessons about how such crises arise in the first place. While pollution from irresponsible operations is now primarily exported to low- and middle-income countries, the lessons learned are often not mainstreamed. That is, in part, what TIFO seeks to do. Similar risks are now re-emerging in the U.S., as some pursue aggressive mineral extraction and an increase in global demand for “green” energy. Revisiting the story of Bunker Hill today can help us collectively avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.
The cost of a choice
The Bunker Hill Lead Poisoning Disaster
In September 1973, a choice was made, one with devastating consequences. A critical piece of pollution control equipment at the Bunker Hill smelter, known as the baghouse, caught fire. Rather than halt production to repair it, company leadership kept the smelter running.
Over the next six months, Bunker Hill released 11 years’ worth of arsenic- and lead-laden pollutants into the air surrounding Kellogg, Idaho.
But this story doesn’t start with a fire. It begins with a series of decisions—made by a corporation, the government, and individuals in power—that led to one of the worst environmental health disasters in U.S. history.
From Local Ownership to Corporate Control
From 1887 to 1937, the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mining and Concentrating Company (later renamed the Bunker Hill Mining Company in the 1950s) operated the Bunker Hill smelter. Pursuing funds to modernize the aging facility left the company vulnerable. In 1968, Gulf Resources & Chemical Corporation, a Texas-based company, took over Bunker Hill.
Soon after, things began to change at the federal level.
The Clean Air Act, and a Way Around It
In 1970, the Nixon administration established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and enacted the Clean Air Act. These groundbreaking measures required polluting industries to implement pollution controls that would reduce toxic emissions and protect public health. For Bunker Hill, this meant installing and maintaining systems to reduce airborne toxins—something that would impact both profits and production timelines.
Amendments to the Clean Air Act granted the EPA the authority to establish national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), which serve as minimum thresholds to safeguard human health. Under Section 110, the federal government required states to develop and submit State Implementation Plans (SIPs), detailing how they would meet and maintain these standards.
Idaho submitted its SIP on January 31, 1972, with additions to the plan submitted on February 23, 1972.
In April 1972, just days before new campaign finance disclosure laws were set to take effect, Gulf Resources CEO Robert Allen secretly donated $100,000 to Nixon’s re-election campaign.
One month later, on May 5, 1972, Cecil D. Andrus, the Governor of Idaho, requested an 18-month extension for air particulate matter standards, allowing the state more time to develop and implement its plan. The EPA approved the extension.
As a result, federal oversight was delayed. Idaho regulators, less equipped and politically less inclined to enforce strict rules, allowed Bunker Hill to continue operating without fully upgrading the baghouse.
Production Up, Protections Down
Meanwhile, the economy was under pressure. Starting in 1971, President Nixon imposed nationwide price controls, freezing wages and the price of raw materials (ore included). The federal government ended these controls in January 1973 but temporarily reimposed them in June 1973. To maintain profitability, Bunker Hill increased smelter output without improving the baghouse’s capacity.
Then came the disaster.
The Baghouse Fire and the Fallout
By June 1973, smelter operations had ramped up. The overloaded baghouse, already outdated and under-maintained, was unable to handle the increased pressure. In September, it caught fire. Hot gases and sparks from the smelter overwhelmed the system, which significantly reduced pollution control.
By December 1973, working conditions in the smelter were so poor that Bunker Hill made a calculated decision: they bypassed the baghouse entirely, continuing full production without any filtration.
The smelter operated this way for months, blanketing the Silver Valley in invisible, toxic dust.
The Human Toll: Lead Poisoning in Children
In early 1974, two children from the area were hospitalized in Coeur d’Alene with severe lead poisoning, triggering concern from local doctors and a federal response.
In August 1974, the CDC and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare launched a study.
The results were staggering.
Today’s reference level for lead poisoning concern is 3.5 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dL)
199% of children in the affected area had blood lead levels exceeding 40 µg/dL
2The average blood lead level was 67.4 µg/dL
3Some children had levels as high as 164 µg/dL
When data on children’s blood lead levels began to arrive in September 1974, one year after the fire, the results were shocking. The fire became one of the largest single lead-poisoning events in U.S. history.
Accountability and Justice Delayed
It wasn’t until 1977 that families filed a successful lawsuit, Yoss et al. vs. Bunker Hill, on behalf of poisoned children in the valley. The result was an $8.8 million settlement. But the records were sealed as part of the agreement and wouldn’t be made public until August 1990.
What This Story Tells Us
This wasn’t just a disaster caused by a fire – it was the result of human decisions.
Why This Story Matters
The full story reveals how one of the single largest lead poisoning disasters occurred, and how it could be repeated if we’re not vigilant.
Nearly everything we use depends on mining. It is essential, but it doesn’t have to poison people. This story reminds us that we have a choice: to mine responsibly, transparently, and with environmental health at the center.
Preserving and sharing this story isn’t just about history. It’s about accountability, memory, and ensuring this never happens again.