The High Country News recently featured an essay by former Montana congressman Pat Williams touting the benefits of the Milltown Dam Removal as an emblem of the emerging restoration economy. Read it here.
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CFRTAC Archives |
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Welcome to cfrtac.org, a website created and maintained by the Clark Fork River Technical Assistance Committee (C-F-R-TAC). This site has been created as a public information resource on the remediation, restoration and redevelopment of the Milltown Reservoir Sediments and Clark Fork River Superfund site. April 29, 2008
The Missoulian reports that scour on the Blackfoot River has exposed a Northwestern Energy gas pipeline. “We knew it was there, and it really was just a matter of time,” said EPA project manager Russ Forba in an interview with the Missoulian. “The company has been involved all along, and they knew that at some point it would have to be relocated.” That work will be underway soon, possibly later this week. Read the article here. April 19, 2008
Roughly 90 residents of the Opportunity and Anaconda area have filed a lawsuit in Butte District court against BP-ARCO and its predecessors for its mining and smelting operations that have “jeopardized their property, health and welfare.” Read the article in today’s Montana Standard or after the jump. (more…) In a photo essay on Slate.com, cultural geographer Caitlin DeSilvey explores some the history of the Milltown Dam Powerhouse and its recent removal. The slideshow, Watershed Moment, is a followup to a 2006 piece for Slate. April 17, 2008
Roughly 642,000 cubic yards of Milltown sediment has been shipped to BP-ARCO’s repository at the Anaconda Superfund site. CFRTAC coordinator Michael Kustudia, with assistance of pilot Gary Matson, recently flew over the repository and took these photos. The photo above shows the sediments being spread to form roughly a two-foot layer. More photos after the jump. CFRTAC board member and West Riverside resident Judy Matson offers her perspective on the recent breaching of the Milltown Dam in this month’s Montana Public Radio commentary. Within the community, there’s a wide range of viewpoints on the issue, depending where one stands on the cleanup itself.” And to frame the issue, she quotes British statesman John Lubbock: “What we see depends on what we look for.” Read the commentary here. Work is on track at Milltown. Check out Missoula County’s monthly update here and the EPA’s latest here. From David Schmetterling, fisheries biologist for the Montana Dept. of Fish, Wildlife and Parks comes this update on fisheries monitoring on the Milltown project. In a nutshell, so far so good. Caged fish have shown no greater mortality than normal nor have the radio tagged fish. Read more after the jump. CFRTAC board president Kathy Hadley recently wrote a response to a Montana Standard editorial that suggested that the highest priority for state restoration funds should be for community groundwater resources. “Unfortunately,” she writes, “if more dollars were to be allocated to groundwater resources, the dollars would likely come from future spending planned for the Clark Fork River restoration and for the Upper Basin’s damaged terrestrial and wildlife resources. Read the rebuttal here or after the jump. April 4, 2008
This aerial photo, from Michael Kustudia and pilot Gary Matson, looks down on the old site of the powerhouse and the new channel of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot Rivers.
Looking downstream, with the bypass channel and sediment excavation areas in the foreground. |
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