The Atlantic Richfield Co. (ARCO) has agreed to pay $187 million that will finance a major cleanup along 120 miles of the Clark Fork River and other areas in southwestern Montana, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced.
The state of Montana is a party to settlement and will be the lead government agency conducting the cleanup using the funds secured in the settlement. Decades of mining activity upstream in Butte and Anaconda, Mont., has contaminated the sediment, banks and floodplain of the Clark Fork with heavy metals that harm plant and animal life in the river and along its shores.
Up to $103.7 million from the settlement will be available to finance various remedial actions along the river between Warm Springs and Missoula, Mont. 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 provide for additional funds if necessary. An additional $7.6 million from the settlement will reimburse the federal government for past response costs, and $3.35 million will compensate for natural resource damages at the historic Grant Kohrs Ranch managed by the National Park Service.
“This settlement brings to a close prolonged litigation over these large Superfund sites in the Clark Fork Basin,” said Ronald J. Tenpas, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “All parties can now focus on finalizing settlements and completing the Basin cleanup as quickly as possible.”
“This is an excellent example of a federal and state partnership working toward our common goal of a clean and healthy Montana,” said Kurt Alme, first assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Montana.
“The environmental benefits will go directly to local landowners with improved soil, and extend to all Montanans through cleaner water and improved fisheries,” Robbie Roberts, EPA’s regional administrator from Denver, said.
As part of the settlement, the state of Montana is resolving its natural resource damage claims against ARCO at the Clark Fork River site as well as sites in Butte and Anaconda for a payment of $72.5 million, which the state will use to finance additional natural resource restoration activities along and upstream of the river.
