EPA official: Waste not flowing downhill, council told

By Barbara LaBoe of The Montana Standard

Commissioners surprised to hear Butte's mining contaminants not connected to sites downstream

Mining contamination in Butte does not affect contamination levels in Silver Bow Creek, the Clark Fork River or the Milltown Dam reservoir, the Montana director of the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday.

While local officials have long worked to keep Butte's heavy metals and other

contamination out of Silver Bow Creek and the overall basin, John Wardell told the Council of Commissioners that the sites along the drainage system are not connected and thus can be cleaned in any order without affecting the others.

The concern is whether planned work at the Milltown Dam would be recontaminated if the Butte sites upstream aren't cleaned first.

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"As we look at it there is no connection between this community and the sites downstream," Wardell said, adding the Warm Springs Ponds catch many contaminates and that the sheer volume of water downstream seems to "dilute" any others.

"What we do here has no impact on Milltown," he said.

The news surprised people in the council chambers, including Commission Chairman Mike Kerns and Commissioner John Sorich, who asked Wardell to repeat the statement. Wardell said based on tests at a Deer Lodge site below the ponds and at Milltown, EPA sees no connection between the sites as far as contaminates being moved down the system.

"It certainly surprises me and everyone in here looked shocked," Kerns said after the meeting. He still questions what would happen in the case of flood or other natural disaster, believing the potential remains for the waste to move downstream.

People also asked Wardell about the delays in the timeline for the final clean-up decision on Butte's last Superfund site — a 5.5-square-mile area of the the Butte Hill known as the priority soils site.

Residents have grown increasingly frustrated as the date for the final Record of Decision has been delayed, particularly since the county and the public must meet stringent deadlines when submitting documents to EPA.

County leaders expressed concern in September that a firm deadline did not exist. They were told that under a fast-track schedule, officials expected to have their proposal completed by December and the final the Record of Decision by July 2004. Last month, though, they were informed, the project had again been delayed and a proposal was not expected until March with a final decision not due until several months later.

Wardell said Wednesday he is equally "frustrated and disappointed" by the delays, but said they're not uncommon in "complicated sites" such as Butte, particularly if there is a strong difference of opinion on what should be done.

And since EPA doesn't consider Milltown and Butte connected as far as spreading more contaminates, he said concerns about the Milltown project moving ahead also aren't germane to the Butte process. He added that more than $120 million has been spent on various clean-up projects in Butte without the final Record of Decision, while no money has been spent in Missoula, so again the two projects don't compare.

"Their concern should be are we addressing the concerns here — which we are — and not what is happening elsewhere," he said after the meeting.

People also are concerned with a decision that "emergency" clean-up projects within the priority soils site — such as mine waste caps — will not be scrutinized in the same way as areas where no clean-up has occurred. That could mean some of the worst areas of contamination do not receive the same level of clean-up as others not already addressed, some people fear.

Wardell urged commissioners and the public to address specific concerns about the capped sites to EPA, adding that he values their opinions. Community acceptance is a criteria of the overall plans, Wardell said after the meeting, but not an absolute requirement. That means EPA will study all concerns, but does not have to abide by the council's wishes.

Still, Kerns said after the meeting he has hope the project is moving along, particularly since he said it appears some of the delays appear to be from officials taking another look at issues important to the council.

"I feel we definitely made some movement," he said.

— Reporter Barbara LaBoe may be reached via e-mail at barbara.laboe@mtstandard.com.