EPA offices flooded with public comments on Milltown Dam - Release date of agency's plan pushed back until end of year

By SHERRY DEVLIN of the Missoulian

 

Missoula, MT - 10/30/02- Ten thousand people already have told the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency how - or whether - to rid Milltown Reservoir of its metals-polluted sediments, and the agency hasn't yet released a cleanup plan.

"It's huge," said Diana Hammer, whose job it is to keep the public informed of the EPA's progress toward a decision at Milltown. "It's very rare, unheard of actually, to get this kind of response outside of a formal public comment period."

A shipment of postcards and letters collected by the Clark Fork Coalition put Hammer's tally over the 10,000 mark Tuesday. About 9,500 of those comments support removal of both the tainted sediments and Milltown Dam, which caused the metals to fall out of the Clark Fork River and into the reservoir.

"Well over 95 percent of the comments say 'take out the dam and the sediments. We want a restored river. We want a clean, drinkable aquifer,' " Hammer said. "That's what we are hearing very clearly."

"Montanans don't agree on much these days, so 9,500 out of 10,000 is remarkable," said Tracy Stone-Manning, the Clark Fork Coalition's executive director. The Missoula-based group favors removal of Milltown Dam and the reservoir sediments.

It matters not that most of the comments came on pre-printed postcards distributed by the coalition, then signed by like-minded citizens, Stone-Manning said. "Signatures are very serious things. People have signed their name to show their support. That should not be discounted at all. This isn't an essay contest."

Hammer agreed. All comments received by the EPA are given the same serious consideration, she said. Each is counted and recorded.

Superfund managers expect to release a proposed cleanup plan for Milltown by the end of the year, Hammer said. Then will come a formal 60-day public comment period, during which the agency needs to hear from all the people who have commented already - and any newcomers to the discussion.

"Whether they love our plan or hate it, we really encourage people to say what they think," she said. "Even if they have commented previously on what should be done, it's important that they comment once we release a draft plan."

Community acceptance is one of the criteria EPA officials consider in selecting a final plan.

Earlier this year, Milltown project managers gave an October release date for the cleanup proposal. They're running behind because of additional information collected during a reservoir drawdown this summer, said John Wardell, chief of the EPA's Montana field office.

"It's just taking us somewhat longer to write the proposed plan," Wardell said. "We are putting so much information into it because we have collected so much information."

By mid-November, Wardell said he'll be ready with an update on the project's schedule.

Milltown Reservoir sits at the receiving end of the nation's largest Superfund cleanup site. The metals pollution was created during a century of mining and smelting in Butte and Anaconda, then washed down the Clark Fork River, collecting along the river bank and in the reservoir.

Atlantic Richfield Co. is responsible for the cleanup costs because of its 1977 merger with Anaconda Copper Co. The company wants to leave the sediments and dam in place.