Pat Munday - September 04, 2008
Clark Fork River Technical Assistance Committee
Natural Resource Damages: Make Wise Choices
Hi, I’m Pat Munday, with the Clark Fork River Technical Assistance Committee. In this commentary I am expressing my own views and not necessarily those of CFRTAC.
Summer is at an end here in the heart of America’s largest Superfund site. In July and August, it seems the sunny, warm weather will go on forever. But then you wake up one morning and frost has killed the petunias. Snow once again caps the mountains surrounding Butte, bull elk are whistling, and grouse hunting has begun.
My summer backpacking and trout fishing time was tempered by research into the role of citizens in shaping Superfund. The clean-up of Silver Bow Creek, Milltown, and other contaminated sites does not just happen. Reading the historical records of the Environmental Protection Agency really drives that point home.
The “polluter pays” principle was the essence of Superfund law. Arco, our principal responsible party, employed a massive army of managers, lawyers, and consultants. Without activist citizens speaking Truth to Power, it would have been all too easy for the agency to “roll over” under corporate pressure and for local governments to trade good clean-up for amenities like golf courses.
After Reagan – the second-worst environmental president in American history – Superfund really got off the ground. Activist citizens led grassroots groups such as Butte’s CTEC and Missoula’s Clark Fork Coalition. These groups were aided by skilled scientists, many of whom donated countless hours reading and analyzing technical documents, and advising citizens on how to challenge Arco’s relentless quest for the cheapest way out.
At the state level, Superfund made possible the Natural Resource Damage claims against Arco. Since 1983 – for nearly twenty-five years – Montana battled Arco to settle these claims. A partial settlement was reached for 215 million dollars in 1999, with the remaining settlement of 168 million dollars reached earlier this year.
Much of this money must be allocated for remedy and restoration of Silver Bow Creek, the Clark Fork River, and other sites. For the most part, the state’s NRD Program has practiced careful investment and prudent spending. For example, of the 80 million dollars originally allocated for the cleanup of Silver Bow Creek, it appears that up to 55 million dollars might be left over. This leaves tens of millions of dollars remaining in the NRD fund for environmental restoration.
But just because a large sum of money remains, Montana should not spend money like a drunken sailor.
For example, consider the restoration grant proposal titled “Restoring Native Plant Diversity.” The project was submitted by a small-mammal biologist with Montana Tech in Butte. The biologist is requesting nearly 850 thousand dollars to collect wildflower seed, grow and clone seedlings, and develop ways to plant flowers on the Butte Hill. This project, if successful, would result in just three acres of restoration.
While an interesting research project, the Natural Resource Damage Program should not skip down this yellow brick road. Research projects at Montana Tech, the U of M, and other universities could easily consume tens of millions of dollars with few or no practical results. As a Butte-Silver Bow County employee with years of experience in mine waste revegetation said, “Eight hundred thousand dollars would buy an awful lot of sagebrush and flower seed from existing suppliers.”
There are many, many better ways to spend our precious and limited NRD funds. Public access sites and trails, conservation easements, the purchase of critical wild lands, improved municipal water distribution systems, and the enhanced remedy and restoration of areas like Milltown—these are just a few ways that provide lasting public benefits.
The Advisory Council – a citizen group that makes funding recommendations to the Natural Resource Damage Program – meets in Deer Lodge next Tuesday. Council members represent communities throughout the upper Clark Fork River Basin—including Missoula and Butte. In recent years, a quid pro quo emerged whereby no one criticizes another community’s projects. It is time for the Advisory Council – as well as NRD staff – to take a stand on wasteful projects.
Let your Advisory Council representative know that you expect fiscal responsibility. We as citizens fought too hard for this money to blow it on pie-in-the-sky projects with few public benefits.
For more news about Montana’s NRD Program and other Superfund issues, please check out CFRTAC’s website at hyperlink www.cfrtac.org.
From Butte to Missoula, we deserve a clean, healthy, and accessible Clark Fork River. It’s your river. Wade in, and help make the future. Thank you, and good night.
Pat Munday
EcoRover blog at http://ecorover.blogspot.com
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