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A massive front end loader deposits the first shovels of dirt removed from the Parrot tailings site into a dump truck at the old ball field behind the Civic Center in Butte, June 2018.
A major mine waste cleanup in central Butte is entering a new phase of tailings removal in February.
After years of debate on how to handle the heaps of mine waste just outside the city’s civic center, work began on the Parrot Tailings in 2018. The waste was left behind by a smelter that ran in Butte for about two decades in the late 1800s.
The tailings themselves contain arsenic, lead, zinc and cadmium, all of which can leach into the city’s creeks. Those creeks are headwaters to the Clark Fork and eventually Columbia rivers.
MICHAEL CAST
At a virtual community meeting held by Montana EPA Region 8 on Monday, Atlantic Richfield Company laid out a plan to increase community involvement as the Superfund cleanup continues in Butte. Â Â
First, those in attendance were treated to a computer rendition of the ponds, boardwalks, green parks, and amphitheaters to come.
Josh Bryson, liability manager for Atlantic Richfield, presented the Silver Bow Creek Conservation Area as it will look once the majority of work is completed in 2026. This will be done in accordance with the Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Consent Decreeâs end-use plan.       Â
Before all that green is connected by boardwalks, hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of mining waste still need to be removed, and residents near the work will have tractors, haul trucks, dust and noise for neighbors. When the parks are finally done, those same neighborhoods will be most affected by how they are