Upper Tenmile News Today

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is putting $65 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law toward cleanups at three Superfund former mining sites in Montana, the agency announced Tuesday.

Colorado saw its worst fire season last year, with the three largest fires in state history and more than 600,000 acres burned. But some of the effects didn’t appear until this July, when heavy rain pushed sediment from damaged forests down mountainsides, causing mudslides that shut down sections of Interstate 70 for almost two weeks.

Colorado saw its worst fire season last year, with the three largest fires in state history and more than 600,000 acres burned.

Colorado saw its worst fire season last year, with the three largest fires in state history and more than 600,000 acres burned.

Colorado saw its worst fire season last year, with the three largest fires in state history and more than 600,000 acres burned.

Colorado saw its worst fire season last year, with the three largest fires in state history and more than 600,000 acres burned.

Colorado saw its worst fire season last year, with the three largest fires in state history and more than 600,000 acres burned.

Where fires decimated forest systems that held soil in place, an increase in droughts followed by heavy rainfall poses a different kind of threat to the water supplies that are essential to the health of communities.

Sediment from massive blazes chokes rivers and reservoirs, contaminating water supplies. The problem is only getting worse as climate change intensifies wildfires and lengthens the fire season.

Despite claims by the Helena city manager Monday that a mining spill resulted in "significant" contamination of Tenmile Creek, the Environmental Protection Agency on-site coordinator said based on early observations, the spill does not pose environmental impacts. EPA on-site coordinator Duc Nguyen said in a phone interview Tuesday less than 100 gallons of water mixed with mining sediment was released into Tenmile Creek from the Susie Mine, part of the Upper Tenmile Creek Mining Area. Nguyen sai...