Palm | Kelapa Sawit

It takes so much funding to clean up messes from the past as well as messes companies and individuals are making today.Here is just ane exampl of the disaterous consequences of so-called progression.

CLARK FORK RIVER SITE
ARCO to pay $187m for Montana Superfund cleanup
A consent decree filed Thursday with the Federal District Court of Montana will allocate $187 million to clean up heavy metals sediment along the Milltown Reservoir/Clark Fork River Superfund site.

Author: Dorothy Kosich
Posted: Friday , 08 Feb 2008

RENO, NV -

Local Montana officials applauded the announcement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice that Atlantic Richfield had agreed to a consent decree requiring ARCO pay $187 million to finance major cleanup along the Clark Fork River and other areas in southwestern Montana.

The State of Montana will be the lead government agency conducting the clean up of decades of mining activity in Butte and Anaconda, which contaminated the sediment, banks and floodplain of the Clark Fork with heavy metals.

The work will include extensive revegetation of stream banks and removal of areas devoid of vegetation contaminated with mine tailings. Contingency plans in the settlement

As the responsible party, BP subsidiary ARCO will pay EPA and the State of Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) $83.3 million to remedy the Clark Fork River/Milltown Reservoir Superfund site, as well as pay $11.7 million in interest. Contingency plans are in place for additional funding if the amount agreed upon is not sufficient. ARCO will also pay $26.72 million, plus interest, to the State for Clark Fork Site Restoration Work, and $4.75 million to the U.S. Department of the Interior for past costs and additional restoration activities at the Superfund site.

The anticipated start of full-scale cleanup is scheduled to begin next year, and is anticipated to take 10 to 12 years.

The Superfund site is a 120-mile stretch of river that runs from Warm Springs, Montana, to Missoula, Montana, and is contaminated with mines wastes from upstream Butte and Anaconda sources.

Butte's Planning Director Jon Sesso told a Montana television station that the millions of dollars from the consent decree won't be sufficient to return Silver Bow Creek or surrounding lands to their original pre-mining state, but he does feel it is enough to make local water and oil safe.

Sesso noted that, when added to previous settlements, more than $1 billion will be spent on local clean up efforts from the Berkley Pit to the Milltown dam. He added that the settlement gives Butte officials the power to set cleanup priorities and decide how some of the money will be spent.

Anaconda Chief Executive Rebecca Guay said she hopes to secure a new drinking water source for the community.

For more information, go to the website www.epa.gov/region08/superfund/mt/milltowncfr/cfr/

POSTED BY JULIE SWAIN