Money from a $460 million trust fund intended to clean up mining pollution is starting to flow into Idaho's Silver Valley.

About $8.5 million will be spent this year from the Asarco trust, which was created as part of the company's 2009 bankruptcy settlement to pay for heavy metals pollution in the valley.

Meanwhile, efforts to clean up a century of mining pollution may not take as long or be as expensive as initially proposed.

Officials for the Environmental Protection Agency made the comments Tuesday during a quarterly update at the EPA office in Coeur d'Alene.