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EPA boss visits polluted mining sites in Montana
Updated 8:26 pm CDT, Friday, September 7, 2018
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FILE - In this Dec. 14, 2016 file photo, a Phoenix Wailer bird deterrent sits on the bank of the Berkeley Pit in Butte, Mont. The wailer, which emits different sounds at random times, is one of the devices used to keep birds from landing in the toxic water of the former copper mine. Mining companies hope to prevent another massive die-off of geese in the polluted waters of the Berkeley Pit in Montana. The Montana Standard reported Friday, March 9, 2018, bird experts worry that with the annual northward migration of geese underway, birds might again be tempted to rest in the water in Berkeley Pit in Butte. In November 2016, an estimated 3,000 snow geese died when they landed in the acidic, metal-laden water. The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was scheduled to visit two contaminated mining industry sites in Montana on Friday, Sept. 7, 2018, as the agency faces pressure to speed cleanup work that's dragged on for more than three decades.
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency visited two contaminated mining sites in Montana on Friday as the agency faces pressure to speed cleanup work that's dragged on for more than three decades.
Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler visited Butte and Anaconda with Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines.
. . .
Butte is home to the notorious Berkeley Pit , an open-pit copper mine holding 50 billion gallons (190 billion liters) of acidic, metal-laden water. An estimated 3,000 snow geese died after landing in the pit in 2016. Anaconda's environmental damage was caused by a century's worth of copper smelting that sent arsenic, lead and other metals into the air until 1980.
. . .
EPA officials in June announced a "conceptual" cleanup plan for Butte. Details have not been made public because of a gag order imposed by a federal judge in a lawsuit over the pollution.
More:
https://www.chron.com/news/medical/article/EPA-boss-to-visit-polluted-mining-industry-sites-13212313.php
