Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • F A L L 2 0 2 1 90 The Anaconda Smelter was one of the country's first Su- perfund sites, and its past continues to leave its mark on the modern landscape of Montana as cleanup operations on the 300-square mile site continue to this day. Beginning in 1884, the Anaconda Copper Mining Com- pany (ACM) began ore processing and smelting at a facility called Old Springs, next to the town of Anaconda. In 1902, ACM began operations at another smelter facility east of Anaconda called Washoe Reduction Works or the Anacon- da Smelter. In 1919, ACM completed construction on the brick smokestack known as the Anaconda Smelter Stack, now the "tallest surviving masonry structure in the world" at about 585 feet. The Anaconda Smelter was operational for nearly a century under the Anaconda Mining Company. Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) purchased the company in 1977, but, due largely to a steep decline in copper prices, ARCO shuttered operations in 1980, leaving the Smelter Stack casting a long shadow across the future of the area. Throughout its decades of production, the Anaconda Smelter contaminated the surrounding area with extremely high levels of lead, arsenic, zinc, copper, and cadmium leaching into the soil, groundwa- ter, and surface bodies of water, making it a top candidate for cleanup under newly-passed CERCLA legislation. The EPA placed the Anaconda Smelter Site on a priority list of Superfund Sites and began cleanup in 1983—cleanup is still ongoing and has led to everything from creating a new State Park to a U.S. Supreme Court Case. In 2008 a group of landowners within the boundaries of the Anaconda Smelter Site sued ARCO for damages to cover more extensive cleanup of the land. ARCO, already the responsible party under CERCLA and working with the EPA to clean the site, argued that damages were already covered for landowners under federal law and could not be preempt- ed by state damage claims. After making its way through the Montana Supreme Court, the case landed in the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019 as Atlantic Richfield vs. Christian. In April 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that landown- ers were free to pursue state claims for additional cleanup costs, but that the EPA would be responsible for deciding if additional cleanup beyond original plans for a Superfund Site are called for. The implications of Atlantic Richfield vs. Christian are potentially far-reaching, setting a precedent for state-level claims against companies responsible for Superfund Site contamination in addition to companies' existing responsibilities under CERCLA. Part of the Anaconda site was named the Anaconda Smoke Stack State Park in 1986. Much of the Smelter Site facility was demolished when operations ceased in the early 1980s, but citizens of the Anaconda area organized to "Save the Stack!" and the towering brick chimney was spared demolition. All 585 feet of the stack remain a lone landmark today, the star of its very own State Park like a distant, brooding cousin of the Washington Monument (a paltry 555 feet tall, according to the Anaconda Smoke Stack State Park website). Visitors should note that the stack can only be viewed from a distance, as the ground immediately surrounding it is still considered hazardous. To date, cleanup efforts at the Anaconda Smelter Site have included cleaning residential properties, well water, removing millions of cubic yards of waste, thousands of acres of revegetated land and wetlands, and restoration of streams through stormwater control systems to stop contam- inated run-off. Ongoing cleanup efforts include removing arsenic from soil at other areas of the site, water quality monitoring, waste removal, and contamination prevention. Montana is a place of breathtaking natural beauty—the last best place, depending who you ask. The mining indus-

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