Pat Munday - September 08, 2005
Clark Fork River Technical Assistance Committee
Butte Priority Soils remedy
Hi, I’m Pat Munday, with the Clark Fork River Technical Assistance Committee.
The controversy over the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed remedy for the Butte Priority Soils continues. In the public hearings held last winter, many many local citizens commented about why they believed it was a bad plan. Lines were so long at the first meeting that the EPA had to schedule another so that everyone could get to the microphone.
The EPA has been pretty quiet, and many citizens assumed the agency would ignore public comment and afflict us with a bad plan—a plan that lets British Petroleum-Arco off cheaply. When folks found out that the agency worked with BP-Arco on a clean up waiver even before the public comment period ended, well, it just wasn’t encouraging. This waiver – a statement of Technical Impracticability for cleaning up the Parrot Tailings – is a “Get Out of Jail Free” card for a corporation that made a profit of more than $12 billion in the first half of 2005. BP’s Chief Executive, Lord Browne, pulled down a salary of nearly $7 million for 2004. With soaring oil prices and high profits, he’ll earn far more this year.
Although the EPA has denied it, the decision to leave the Parrot Tailings and attic dust in place is a classic case of environmental injustice. Low income families will suffer the most exposure to metals and arsenic left in place, and the community as a whole – one of the poorer cities in Montana – will be economically handicapped by a lousy clean up.
A group of geologists, hydrologists, and other scientists recently released a report about the EPA’s proposed remedy for Butte. The report is titled, “Cut and Run: EPA Betrays Another Montana Town.” The report was released by PEER, which stands for “Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.”
The key issue revolves around leaving the Parrot Tailings—a highly contaminated body of mine waste in the aquifer at the headwaters of Silver Bow Creek.
According to the engineers and scientists, the EPA has abdicated its responsibility by proposing to grant BP-Arco the clean up waiver. The report explains that leaving toxic waste in place will create a public health threat, jeopardize the clean up work that has already taken place, and devastate Butte economically.
PEER is especially critical because the EPA jumped to conclusions without adequate data. EPA and its consultant, CDM, failed on two accounts: One, they did not drill deep wells into the aquifer; and two, they did not characterize the sediments in the aquifer.
Without evidence, the EPA and CDM assume that removing the Parrot Tailings will not lead to a cleaner aquifer. But PEER cites several pieces of evidence that might falsify the EPA’s assumptions. There is only one deep test well. That single deep well and its sediments seem to show that removal of the Parrot Tailings will lead to a clean aquifer within a reasonable amount of time. Furthermore, leaving the tailings in place will send a plume of contamination to Silver Bow Creek. The state of Montana is spending about $3 million per mile to clean and restore Silver Bow Creek—a stream that will be recontaminated if the EPA’s assumptions are wrong.
The PEER report is careful to point out that the EPA’s assumptions could be correct. But there is simply no data to substantiate the assumptions. The report details the many ways in which the EPA has violated its own rules by making decisions without adequate data.
The PEER report about EPA’s betrayal of Butte can be found at www.peer.org. That’s w-w-w.p-e-e-r.o-r-g.
Well, summer is coming to an end, folks, so it’s time to write letters and attend meetings.
Montana’s Natural Resource Damage Program is seeking comment on its decision to earmark $7.6 million in restoration funds for Milltown Dam. Because the Milltown Consent Decree is a done deal and the state wants to coordinate remedy and restoration, this earmark will be fast-tracked to bypass the normal (and lengthy) approval process.
Work will begin soon to remove Milltown Dam and to restore the river channel. CFRTAC is convening a meeting of stakeholders, the EPA, and the state to discuss public outreach on the Milltown Design Review Team work. CFRTAC, along with Missoula County, are the designated public representatives in this process. At our meeting, we’ll talk about everyone’s expectations and how best to proceed. The meeting is set for Thursday, September 22nd, at 10:30 am in the
Missoula Public Library.
Also, check out CFRTAC’s new website at 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.
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