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Officials Remove, Destroy Chemicals from Closed Mining Lab

Residents of a small southwestern Montana town were evacuated earlier this week

By Associated Press

NORRIS — Residents of a small southwestern Montana town were evacuated earlier this week while potentially explosive chemicals were removed from a mining lab that was shut down by federal regulators.

The Montana Standard reports the Madison County sheriff’s department evacuated about 20 residences and businesses in the unincorporated town of Norris on Tuesday while chemicals were removed from Norris Labs and destroyed.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration closed down the lab that performed assay tests and other analyses for the mining industry after inspectors found hundreds of improperly stored and abandoned containers of hazardous substances in late June.

Some volatile chemicals were blown up near the lab while others were taken about 2 miles out of town and destroyed.