ARCO says smelter site ready as gift

GREAT FALLS – Atlantic Richfield Co. is renewing its offer to turn the former Anaconda Mining Co. complex on Smelter Hill over to the county for trails and recreation.

Atlantic Richfield has spent about $22 million cleaning up the site.

Last summer, a report by the Environmental Protection Agency called the area too contaminated with lead and arsenic to be open to the public for recreation any time soon. And state Department of Environmental Quality officials still aren’t convinced the 367-acre site is safe.

“As long as there are problems on the site, we aren’t going to be able to say it has a clean bill of health,” said Earl McCurley, a DEQ environmental scientist. “The problems are still there.”

Atlantic Richfield officials have been working with the city and county since 1997 to develop a land-use plan for Smelter Hill. They say more recent testing shows the site is not affecting the Missouri River and are confident it’s in good condition.

“Our offer is still open for a transfer of the property as well as the water rights that go along with that,” said Robin Bullock, Atlantic Richfield’s northwest regional manager. “The property would come with a trust fund to address ongoing maintenance. We also talked with the county about having an insurance product as additional protection for the county for unknown issues that neither us or anyone is aware of from the environmental standpoint.”

The EPA was involved in the latest round of tests. Jim Harris of the EPA said fish, soil and surface water samples did not show problems that would be a risk to human health, but said the EPA is not involved in determining the future use of the site.

The property remains a medium-priority state Superfund site.