Never did they lose their focus on protecting public health and safety. Never did they forsake future generations.
As Milltown Dam is breached Friday and the confluence of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers flows freely for the first time in a century, all Montanans should stop and take note of these individuals and their contributions.
The story began in 1981 with Missoula County sanitarian Ed Zuleger drawing water samples from household taps in Milltown. The arsenic levels were so high he thought someone must have made a mistake, so he went back for another batch. Those concentrations were even higher, so Zuleger and the City-County Health Department went to work - and have remained at work all these years.
Notable among the voices calling, steadfastly, for Milltown Reservoir's cleanup have been the Health Department's Ellen Leahy, Jim Carlson and Peter Nielsen. They have set the standard statewide as public health officers of the highest order, insisting that science rule the day - not politics.
The Missoula County commissioners were stalwarts as well, with former Commissioner Barbara Evans keeping Milltown front and center on her agenda from Day One. When the state needed poking, Evans was on the road to Helena, a sharp stick in hand. When the feds needed the same, she was at the airport, en route to Washington, D.C.
The state of Montana's involvement has been essential. Vic Andersen was the state's Superfund cleanup coordinator when the first reports of arsenic in Milltown's drinking water came across his desk in 1981. “It's like your life,” he remembered later. “You didn't see this coming.” Keith Large eventually became the state's lead on the Milltown cleanup, and while he stayed out of the limelight, he kept the pressure on for a complete and lasting solution.
In 2002, then-Gov. Judy Martz announced her support for dam removal - the last essential piece of the puzzle. “This decision is not about being an environmentalist or a nonenvironmentalist,” Martz said. “This is about the future health of this state.”
On the federal level, John Wardell, director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Montana office, led a group of engineers and scientists whose thoughts about the Milltown cleanup evolved over time - and who had the courage to say they had changed their minds when conditions changed. After nearly 20 years of study, Wardell announced - in February of 2000 - that his agency would seriously consider suggestions that Milltown Dam be removed and its reservoir's sediments be taken off-site. “EPA's perspective has changed,” he said.
And so changed Milltown's world.
Russ Forba, the EPA's Milltown project manager, has been the steady hand guiding first the studies, then the design of a cleanup plan, and now its implementation. He is a cautious and conscientious public servant, and his dedication continues to guide work at what has become a massive cleanup and reclamation project. He has, by his own admission, worried about every last detail of the plan - all for the public good.
Diana Hammer has been the EPA's public involvement officer for the project - another tough assignment, given the strongly held opinions over the years, for and against the dam's removal, for and against the sediment's removal, for and against various disposal sites for the sediment. She has treated all of those competing perspectives with respect, and provided hundreds and hundreds of hours of public meetings to keep everyone informed.
So, too, were the voices of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service critical, and that of Montana Sen. Max Baucus. “Removing Milltown Dam would be one of the greatest fish conservation achievements possible in the northwestern United States,” Mark Wilson, supervisor of the FWS Montana field office said in 2002. “We are saying take out the dam.”
Missoula, Milltown, Bonner and West Riverside residents have been active participants throughout the years. Leaders and members of the Clark Fork Coalition and Montana Trout Unlimited pushed hard for removal of the sediments and, ultimately, of the dam. They invested time, money and considerable political capital. They did not give up, even when all signs pointed to a very different outcome. Friends of Two Rivers was a crucial group in 2001 and 2002, and remains so today. And while its members opposed the dam's removal, the Bonner Development Group was important as well, in providing that counterpoint and broadening the discussion.
Remember, too, as the dam is breached, the contributions of University of Montana scientists Bill Woessner and Johnnie Moore, who traced the source of Milltown's polluted drinking water to the reservoir sediments. They did that first, essential bit of science without fanfare and, quite literally, without money. On a 10-degree day in February 1982, UM's geology department loaned the two young faculty members $20 to rent a chainsaw to cut a hole in the ice of Milltown Reservoir so they could take soil samples from the reservoir bottom.
Even when the sediments showed high levels of arsenic and heavy metals, theirs was a hotly contested suggestion: that mine and smelter wastes could travel downstream 120 miles and pollute Milltown's tap water. Back then, Moore said, “we didn't understand the geochemistry of arsenic. We didn't know that there could be another whole set of processes in a reservoir that would release arsenic into the groundwater. Milltown was the start of our understanding.”
Today, Milltown gets its fresh start. Long years of work lie ahead to complete the cleanup and restoration. There will be controversies and complaints and concerns. There will be surprises. But if anything, the story of Milltown Dam's removal shows the power of everyday Montanans - be they in public service or private life - to confront a difficult challenge, collect all the necessary information and make a decision that truly reflects what is best for this and future generations. That's a story worth telling and retelling, for all time.
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)