In a toxin-exposed Montana mining town, the EPA favors polluters

[cbabe]

https://crosscut.com/environment/2023/03/toxin-exposed-montana-mining-town-epa-favors-polluters

In a toxin-exposed Montana mining town, the EPA favors polluters

Scientists say the agency is siding with the companies, even after it acknowledged that open-pit mining in Butte is unsafe and requires major cleanup.

by Wilson Criscione InvestigateWest / March 6, 2023

…

Locals have wondered for years whether that dust carries heavy metals that may be slowly poisoning them. The EPA and health officials, however, have maintained what strikes many as two conflicting messages: one, that previous open-pit mining in Butte left behind a toxic legacy necessitating a major cleanup effort. And two, that the current open-pit mining operation is safe.

McDermott and other independent scientists have questioned that narrative through a series of small, underfunded studies in recent years. They’ve received pushback from the mining companies in town, ARCO and Montana Resources.

But they’ve also run into a more unlikely foe: the EPA.

…more…

[cilla4progress]

1. Crazy. Montana is so gorgeous on the surface

yet so toxic in ways unseeable to the naked eye.

Watching open coal trains going for miles along the Clark Fork with blue ribbon fishing streams among its tributaries is really hard to see.

Not to mention its mining history.

State's resources have been exploited since day 1.

Greed.

I hope our Montana members will not hesitate to school me if I got anything wrong here.

[2naSalit]

3. As long as the magats...

Have their death grip on the legislature and governor's mansion, we're fucked.

I see mile and a half long coal trains going by on the southern rails too, coming from Coalstrip going to the coast to ship to elsewhere. But that's aside from the coal that gets burned right there in Coalstrip.

As long as there is money coming from the mining corps and the like, with the magats running the show, get ready for Montana to end up a toxic waste dump from Beach to continental divide.

I have little hope for the state right now.

[2naSalit]

2. A local's take...

“Our position is that it would be best to recognize the problems and openly address them,” Banderob said. “Their attitude has been, ‘If we can sweep it under the rug, that’s the best way to go.’”

McDermott sees the pattern in Butte continuing: The EPA, mining companies and other governmental officials aren’t making a good-faith effort to find answers, McDermott argues. Instead, they focus on “red herrings.”

“They keep doing little things to make people feel better, to keep people distracted,” she says. For McDermott, that’s not how science should proceed.

“Why not repeat my studies? Why don’t you contract with the university and have them do the sample and the analysis, instead of screaming at me that I’m wrong?” McDermott says. “That’s how science progresses.”

[cilla4progress]

4. Thanks,

2na.