Officials said they reached a $100 million settlement for removing a century-old dam built where the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers meet, along with some of the toxic mud behind it.
BONNER, Mont. — Officials said they reached a $100 million settlement for removing a century-old dam built where the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers meet, along with some of the toxic mud behind it.
Concerns about the Milltown Dam and reservoir surged in 1996 after shifting ice scoured the river bottom, stirring contaminated sediment.
The emergency release of water at the dam, to deal with the approaching ice, flushed some mud downstream. Copper concentrations rocketed and surveys found a steep drop in rainbow and brown trout numbers.
The contaminants were leached from old mines upstream in the Butte area.
Under the agreement, Atlantic Richfield Co. will cover about $80 million of the removal cost and dam owner NorthWestern Corp. will contribute $11.4 million. The state's $7.6 million share will come from a $225 million settlement that Arco and Montana reached in 1998 for damage to natural resources.
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Arco became responsible for historic mining pollution when it acquired assets and liabilities of the Anaconda Co.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Tuesday helped announce the agreement, which is subject to public comment for 30 days.
Arco and NorthWestern had advocated strengthening the dam and leaving it in place. That option posed less environmental risk, Arco spokeswoman Robin Bullock said Tuesday. But she said that with the removal and cleanup decision in hand, Arco is "trying to reach closure with the mining legacy inherited from the Anaconda Co."
The project could begin as early as this fall. Plans call for removal of the dam to begin in 2007, with work completed in late 2009.
Source: Associated Press
