U.S. SENATE — U.S. Senator Steve Daines today made the following statement after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) included both Montana’s Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area and Anaconda Co. Smelter Superfund sites in its list of sites that Administrator Scott Pruitt has targeted for immediate and intense attention. This comes in response to a letter Senator Daines sent to Pruitt urging the agency to do so.
“By including the Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area and Anaconda Co. Smelter sites among the EPA’s targeted Superfund sites, these sites will now receive the attention, focus and prioritization that these communities deserve,” said Daines. “With an additional sixteen National Priority List sites still in Montana, I will continue to work with the EPA to clean up these sites more expeditiously and safely.”
Daines’ Actions to Prioritize Montana Superfind Sites:
On June 27, 2017, Daines sent a letter to Pruitt that included recommendations for improvements to the Superfund program.
On July 25, the EPA met Danies’ request in its Superfund Task Force report.
Additional Background:
At the Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area site, EPA has taken steps to accelerate the process of reaching an agreement on a specific portion of the larger site—the Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit—and has set the end of January as a deadline for parties to do so. If an agreement cannot be reached, EPA will issue an order to ensure the remaining work is completed in a timely fashion.
At the Anaconda Co. Smelter site, EPA has directed Atlantic Richfield Co. to complete residential and commercial property sampling and cleanup of lead and arsenic. EPA will start sampling, and where necessary, cleaning up lead and arsenic at school facilities early next year.
For more information about the sites and the EPA’s cleanup efforts, click HERE.
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