Montana city formerly the most polluted in the country turning a corner

ABC News's Kayna Whitworth reports from Anaconda, Montana, where a decadeslong environmental cleanup is finally bearing fruit, though residents in a neighboring town say the cleanup has a ways to go.
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#bigskycountry #montana #environment #abcnlprime #abcnews

[@tadolph82]

Charge the polluters. Not the government! Even if those companies don’t exist anymore… there is for sure generational wealth directly attributable to that pollution…

[@6by6by6]

Every American has benefited from the mining of those minerals , they literally help build this country. How much do you want your family to pay ?

[@JB-np5xi]

Before I retired, I worked for Montana DEQ and with Charlie Colman, Great guy. Anaconda was one of my superfund sites. Standing at the bottom of the stack and looking up.....

[@who_wantsit]

I want to do that

[@stickynorth]

Butte deserves better! It's a spectacular community in a wonderful state!

[@shaf60]

The world is still in jeopardy . 🌍EARTH FIRST🌍

[@user-kv2bp5eh9q]

Pollution is modern day pejorative buzzword. Back when the Anaconda Gold & Silver company was renamed as a copper mining company it was barely even a concept. The cumulative impact of a century of tunnel mining & charcoal pit smelting is beyond calculation--even before open pit mining and smelter furnaces. Huge forests were cut down and railway lines laid down to carry lumber to the smelting pits. The health impacts were noticeably huge even in the 19th c. The residual heavy metals in the local water supply created local legends about the erratic behavior of Butte residents (often violent, abusive, criminal) memorialized in numerous "Butte stories" which I heard in my 8 year residence in Missoula. (Wallace Idaho, another mining town has a similar reputation.) The now-dismantled Milltown dam upstream from Missoula trapped so many toxic sediments from the mines that surrounding groundwater still poisons garden harvests. This is the tip of an iceberg of pollution that spread thru the surrounding atmosphere and downstream water all over the Northwest. Don't expect a project this big to finish up in just a few quick decades.

[@BarnaliD]

Thank you. This is why I like reading comments, for more info and insight. .

[@emersonstaley3538]

I’m tired of corporations screwing over communities. It’s time to hold companies accountable

[@JB-np5xi]

ARCO (Atlantic Richfield Co) pays for the cleanup. The fed and state oversee remediation.

[@austinwald2731]

If Montanans were serious about getting treated fairly in the aftermath of the mountain tops being cut off to electrify this country, they would have needed to implement fair taxes. Instead, Montana has done the opposite and cut taxes for the top earning brackets nearly every term since 2001. Montanans that vote in Republicans that have gutted progressive tax brackets have no right to complain about the devastation and poisoning of the land unfettered capitalism has rendered. Governor Gianforte isn't even trying to hide it, justifying the last cutting of taxes for the top 1%, as "A way to attract wealthy out of state investors". Yeah investors who pay no taxes and have no responsibility not to leave a giant pit of literal poison right next to a major city. It's not like that could ever happen right?

[@missano3856]

I doubt there will ever be much more hard rock mining in Montana. Stillwater is about as good as they get but Landusky left a real bad taste. Don't badmouth Gianforte too much, he hasn't gone nuts on abortion and he didn't try to eff up weed legalization. I voted for Cooney but then I realized I was glad when Gianforte won cuz it meant my gym and yoga studio would stay open so I thank him for that.

[@austinwald2731]

If you like big corporations coming and destroying Montana and paying no taxes, vote for Gianforskin. @@missano3856

[@rockycock7631]

Butte is a blue city

[@johnjones2463]

Several years of Democrat Governors since 2001 in Montana.

[@austinwald2731]

@@johnjones2463 And which ones had the power to change anything without any pushback from the Republican majority? Do you think Governors are responsible for introducing and passing legislation? Or even have the power to? You think Steve Bullock, or any Governor, had/have the power to impose a higher and more progressive income tax bracket? If you are of that opinion I suggest you do some basic research into has state legislation works.

[@fritzsmith3296]

"Arco save that stack, touch not a single brick. Signify the livihood that made Anaconda tick. Still let it stand there stark against the sky. Like a somewhat obscene gesture catching every eye." Written by a union rep early 1960's.

[@emersonstaley3538]

My only problem with this news story is that there was no one interviewed from the companies that polluted the area in the first place

[@pepperonish]

The stack is wild to see when you're driving and don't know what it is.

[@frankmacleod2565]

I bet the locals there are pissed!! Lots of people in that part of the country hate government intervention. Who are we to come to their land and clean up the carcinogens left behind by multinational mining corporations?

[@AustinandBuddy]

Such bullshit that Butte has been ignored for this long

[@Rick-np9vz]

There were smelters all over the area! Great Falls even had one! The one in East Helena ran into the 1980s !

[@adammaturin1277]

Sounds like a great place to move to! Im on my way! 🙄

[@jermainec2462]

😂😂

[@coffee-co8gk]

​@jermainec2462 sarcasm. Seriously 9 months of winter. It's cold!

[@jermainec2462]

@@coffee-co8gk shiddd it sounds Terrible thats too much winter 😆

[@user-ku6oc9hp5u]

Where is the postcard showing Model T on the rim of the stack?

[@GH-oi2jf]

I saw it about 40 years ago. I'm glad it's being cleaned up.

[@ededdynova]

It's disgusting that all these massive companies that made billions from mine arnt made/forced to clear up the mess they've made, changing names then bankrupting the old company. leaving superfund govement to foot the bill. where is the polution moved too? soil etc....have they just moved the proplem else where ?

[@jefferyjeffery1707]

The headwaters of the Columbia River....is NOT in the Butte, Montana Region. But up in British Columbia. Canada!!

[@johnchristie9904]

Those creeks in Butte flow into the Columbia

[@jefferyjeffery1707]

@@johnchristie9904 Yep.....

[@rockycock7631]

​@jefferyjeffery1707 it's part of The Columbia watershed

[@betterl8thannvr]

Anaconda had pretty far reaching impact. Just outside of Skykomish, WA there was a superfund site from a processor who was processing mine waste from Anaconda. ARCO still has monitoring wells for heavy metals there to this day.

[@robertlawrence1041]

10:02 Focuse on community engagement, is definitely not what is most important is a town contaminated by companies following government regulations. The money spent to clean this up is not even the governments money. The money entrusted to them shall first and foremost used to clean up past messes and prevent them from happening again by proper regulation of industry. Every one responsible for creating and enforcing regulations should think (if I dropped a favorite food right there would I still eat it). If the thinking not to stop any pollution or reduce existing human pollution to the point of unpolluted then they are bad at their job regulating the human generated pollution to the least edible for a lifetime of exposure.

[@BarnaliD]

Interesting topic. Thanks ABC.

[@biffpocoroba890]

They kept the mines open in Butte. Might still be open. Priorities.

[@missano3856]

Is it Libby or Butte?

[@zanelance-hardman4826]

It’s neither. It’s anaconda MT.

[@missano3856]

@zanelance-hardman4826 Yeah, smelting is still dirty business but back then...wow. The Clark's Fork river has been part way rehabilitated tho.

[@LearnHowToWipeYaArse]

Uncle ted was right

[@user-to2gh7sg3l]

I like instead of having a name like "Golden Sunshine" or "Lucky Streak" mine like the others. Anaconda is named after a gigantic man eating snake, much more fitting for a mining company.

[@dorianleclair7390]

Butte needs to be a super fund site if it is not already.

[@BJ-kn2te]

With the same if not worse kind of environmental destruction happening in Alaska even as I write this here, I’m thinking damn America that’s a hypocritical blow to our intelligence.

[@Heal_Hound]

Who is the guy hosting this news segment?

[@TNT_FPV]

ignoranus

[@pauldickman4379]

oh no, woman have short hair, little boy feel threatened, must insult!

[@MagusMik]

This story is kind of fucked, that city was revitalized and now has a new economy developing. Meanwhile Butte and however many other cities like it are left behind with negative growth. These projects need to be sped up and spread to breath life back into these old towns.

[@barbck]

I live in Butte and are growing wonderdully!

[@thekidfromcleveland3944]

*laughs in 1970s Cleveland*

[@rubymc2027]

Make sure you vote for the guy that wants to end epa's regulatory ability (sarcasm intended)

[@eleanormattice3598]

The taxpayer has to pay for clean-up after all the profits the mining company made. Mining needs to be HEAVILY regulated during the process of mining and for decades afterwards.

[@nowapobron]

Me no you

[@edsmith2562]

You folks don't have an editor? Poorly edited piece.

[@Wicked6975]

“Developers are moving in”. Of course. One scourge replaces another but with a Jack Nicklaus GC, miles of rooftops, Starbucks, Five Below’s, and fast food joints. Locals will be priced out and move to Butte.

[@6by6by6]

The biggest takeaway I have from this story is the seemingly complete lack of any major generational heath issues attributed to the pollution. Lifetime residents seemingly healthy and thriving, raising their own children in the very environment they grew up in.. It’s never a short or economically cheap process to reverse 50yrs of pollution..

[@alexeilindes7507]

Lets gets some buses of migrants in there

[@Dangerousoldman]

Richard head.

[@russrask]

Worst pony tail i've ever seen

[@AzureFlameGod1986]

All I can say is vote for Biden if you want any chance for more change for better.

[@user-ku6oc9hp5u]

for sure

[@vsznry]

at least just not a religious nationalist who belittles science & defunds the EPA. Remembe, we wanted Bernie.

[@AzureFlameGod1986]

@@user-ku6oc9hp5u Yeah! For Real! ❄️

[@AzureFlameGod1986]

@@vsznry I wanted Bernie too. He too is an honest man!

[@jackbehal3327]

check out RFK jr, strongest environmental record of any candidate, worth looking into if you are feeling openminded! cheers.

[@marymorris6897]

In 1960, my father drove us to an area in Tennessee where there had been copper mining. There was nothing green anywhere. It was desolate of life. That area has also been cleaned up, I believe. I'm glad I got to see what air pollution can do. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copperhill,_Tennessee