ANACONDA — Concerns are being raised over how the Environmental Protection Agency is overseeing the heavy metals cleanup in the Montana town of Anaconda.
The concerns were voiced Wednesday during a meeting of the Superfund Task Force in Anaconda.
The Montana Standards reports that most of the meeting focused around the lead cleanup in residents’ homes and yards occurring now in a neighborhood relatively close to the long-defunct Washoe Smelter. The smelter closed in 1980 after spewing tons of heavy metals into the air for nearly 80 years.
Concerns were raised about how the EPA was going about the cleanup and the testing of homes.
EPA project manager Charlie Coleman says the EPA is learning as it goes along and stressed that the agency is trying to do better.