Fall 2002

New Exhibit In the Works at the Berkeley Pit Viewing Stand

The Berkeley Pit Public Education Committee has decided to design a new exhibit that will be installed at the Pit viewing stand accessible from Continental Drive. Every year, thousands of Butte residents and tourists visit the viewing stand, and many have questions about what is being done to fix the problem. The Committee hopes the new exhibit will answer some of those questions, prompt additional questions, and be another effective educational opportunity.

Preliminary concepts for the exhibit include a history of the Pit's development and an explanation of cleanup work under the Superfund program. Pre-Berkeley Pit era photos and topography maps of the area and underground structures will be included to provide a perspective of the transition from prosperous mining neighborhoods to one of the largest, truck-operated open pit mines in North America. The exhibit will also explain the water treatment plant operations and related cleanup activities on the Butte Hill. The Committee also plans to install a newspaper box at the viewing stand offering the latest edition of PITWATCH.

The Committee hopes to design and build the exhibit in the next few months and install it before the next tourist season. Anyone interested in helping with project or who may have photos is encouraged to contact the Committee.

Mine Flooding Consent Decree Signed by Federal Judge

On August 14, 2002, U.S. District Judge Sam E. Haddon signed the Mine Flooding Consent Decree between the Atlantic Richfield Company (Arco), the Montana Resources Group (MR), the U.S. EPA, the State of Montana (DEQ) and the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Consent Decree was released for public review on March 26, 2002, with a May 4 deadline to submit public comments to the federal court. EPA and DEQ reviewed the comments submitted and in late July 2002, the Agencies submitted a report to the federal court recommending that none of the public comments warranted any changes in the Decree. Subsequently, Judge Haddon approved and signed the Consent Decree as originally drafted.

With the Consent Decree lodged in federal court as a legally binding agreement, Arco and MR proceeded with plans to build the Horseshoe Bend Water Treatment Plant. The companies are also obligated to provide annual financial statements to document their capability to pay all costs to operate and maintain the facility - including sludge disposal - in perpetuity.

The Decree also requires Arco and MR to reimburse EPA and DEQ for past costs and pay now for future oversight costs. Other obligations are to enhance the waterfowl protection program at the Berkeley Pit, to establish a groundwater control area surrounding the Berkeley, to fund the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology to continue the mine flooding monitoring program, and to fund public education (e.g., PITWATCH).

Butte Students Explore Pit Clean Up, Win National Awards

Two Butte students - Alexandra Antonioli and Kels Phelps - have taken their school science projects to the highest levels of success. After claiming local awards from the Pit Committee, their impressive work has earned national awards and scholarships for their continuing education.

Alexandra, a Butte High senior, has spent most of her educational career working on science fair projects relating to solutions and issues regarding the Berkeley Pit. When she's not swimming and playing piano, she's working on her main project titled, "An Investigation of the Remediation of Berkeley Pit Water Using Genetically Modified Extremophilic Yeast". Although it's quite complicated, Alexandra's simplified explanation is the project deals with evaluating microorganisms and their ability to sequester the complex mineral compounds contained within the water. The end result is the potential detoxification of Pit water. For her work, Alexandra has received a full scholarship ($78,000) to Drexel University for microbiology, as well as numerous other honors, including awards from the Navy, the University of Montana and Montana Tech.

Kels, a Butte High freshman, has also concentrated on microbiology and the Berkeley Pit for his science fair project. The project, "Do Microbes Growing in Unique Ecological Niches Contain Compounds with Redeemable Medicinal Value," was one of 40 finalists (out of 60,000 nominations) in the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge in Washington, D.C. in October 2002. At this national competition, Kels won a special award for leadership, a physics award, and a scholarship to attend an aviation camp in Wisconsin next summer. Kels says his project was looking for a possible medicine from a fungus that grows in the Berkeley Pit. Tested for its ability to fight cancer and five types of infections, it was discovered that this fungus was a possible anti-cancer agent and lethal to Staphylococcus aureus.

Others Butte students are encouraged to develop projects related to mining or the Berkeley Pit for the 2003 Science Fair next spring at Montana Tech.

Spring 2002

Horseshoe Bend Water Treatment Plant: Construction plans
PitWatch Issue Volume 7, Number 1

As reported in the last two editions of PitWatch, the mine's suspension accelerated the schedule for the Atlantic Richfield Company and Montana Resources to build a facility to treat Horseshoe Bend water. Here's an update on construction plans.

WHEN: Construction is scheduled to start in July 2002 and the facility should be ready to treat water by August 2003. The only way construction could be postponed is if the mine re-opens before June 30, 2002.

WHERE: The facility will be built on four acres near the former McQueen neighborhood, about 600 feet east of the Berkeley Pit (see inset graphic on page 3). The site is on fairly native land that is very stable, and the facility has been designed to withstand the maximum probable earthquake.

CAPACITY: The facility has been designed to treat up to seven million gallons per day (MGD), which is about 5000 gallons of water per minute. At first, the plant will treat approximately three MGD of flows from the Horseshoe Bend sources and the Continental Pit. Eventually, the plant will be upgraded, as needed, to treat the water from the Berkeley Pit when the water level approaches 5,410, in about 2018.

MIXING LAGOON: The facility will have a two-million-gallon influent lagoon where all the water sources will be combined before treatment. The Horseshoe Bend water will flow downhill to the lagoon by gravity, and the Continental Pit flow will be pumped to the lagoon from the south. With the cleaner, Continental Pit water in the lagoon, the combined water will be easier to treat. Also, Montana Resources wants to start pumping from the Continental Pit right away to keep the water level low and the water quality higher, and to preserve future mining opportunities.

COSTS: Current estimates are the facility will cost between $12-22 million to build and about $2 million to operate each year, depending on how much water is treated. Once the Berkeley Pit water comes on line, annual operation and maintenance costs could be as high as $4.5 million. Under the terms of a Consent Decree negotiated with the government, Arco and Montana Resources have agreed to pay all costs to build the treatment facility and provide financial assurances to pay operation and maintenance expenses in perpetuity.

TREATMENT TECHNOLOGY: A two-stage lime precipitation process will be used in combination with a High Density Sludge (HDS) approach. The fully automated facility will generate about 10 times less sludge than a conventional lime treatment plant (see PitWatch, Volume 6, No.2 for details).

SLUDGE DISPOSAL: Given the low volume—about 150,000 gallons per day—the sludge will be placed in the Berkeley Pit, eliminating the need for a sludge repository. Also, test results indicate that sludge disposal in the Pit may raise the pH of the water over time (10-20 years), which should decrease treatment costs of Pit water.

Placing the sludge in the Berkeley Pit does mean the water level would approach the critical mark of 5,410' about nine months sooner, in 2018 vs. 2019. The companies and agency officials believe the benefits of sludge disposal in the Pit outweigh the costs of that extra year of water treatment. Also, since a treatment plant will already be operating, concerns about whether a plant will be built in time are eliminated.

WATER DISCHARGE: Clean water from the treatment plant will be piped to existing concrete reservoirs located at the concentrator (off of Continental Drive). Due to the design of this system, the treated water can be easily used in the concentration process when the mine resumes operations or be discharged to Silver Bow Creek. From there, the water will be transported by pipeline to Silver Bow Creek, with a discharge point planned near the railroad bridge on South Montana Street. The volume of treated water should add about 4.5 cubic feet per second (cfs) of flow to the creek, about a 50% increase to the base flow of 10 cfs.

In March 2002, the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) and Montana Resources (MR) agreed to sign a Consent Decree, a legally binding document that will be entered in federal court. The Consent Decree requires these companies to reimburse EPA and DEQ for past costs, and pay now for future oversight costs. It also guarantees that these companies will perform a number of tasks and provide financial assurances to pay all costs to complete the required work.

Most importantly, the Consent Decree sets a firm schedule for Arco and MR to build a water treatment facility, and confirms their obligations to operate and maintain the facility - including sludge disposal - in perpetuity. Also included in the Consent Decree are commitments to enhance the waterfowl protection program at the Berkeley Pit, to establish a groundwater control area surrounding the Berkeley, to fund the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology (through the EPA and DEQ) to continue the mine flooding monitoring program, and to fund public education activities (e.g., PitWatch).

As part of the process, ten changes were made to the Record of Decision (1994). For example, changes were made to recognize new stream and discharge standards for the treated water, to allow Continental Pit water treatment in the Horseshoe Bend plant, and to allow sludge disposal in the Berkeley Pit. Another change eliminates the requirement to reevaluate treatment technologies when the water level in the Pit reaches the 5,260' level, since the treatment plant will already be built. The Consent Decree also clarifies which cleanup tasks will be done under the Superfund program and which will be done under the State's active mine permit reclamation program.

The Consent Decree was released on March 26, 2002 for public comment until May 4, and is expected to be finalized thereafter. Please see back page for details or contact the Committee with any questions.

The Committee awarded $50 savings bonds to the four grade-school students and a $250 bond to the high school student. Their science fair projects all explored important topics related to the Berkeley Pit. Congratulations to everyone who competed in the Fair, and keep up the good work! Remember, the Committee will offer awards again at the 2003 Science Fair, and students are encouraged to choose projects related to the Pit for next year's competition.

	John Metesh 5th grade, Kennedy "Can Berkeley Pit Water Be Good For You?"
	Cara Patton 6th grade, Margaret Leary "Horseshoe Bend Water and Soap"
	Abby Roberts 7th grade, Chief Joseph Middle School (Bozeman) "Solar Evaporator For Mine"
	Kels Phelps 8th grade, East Middle School "Do Microbes Growing In Unique Ecological Niches Contain Compounds With Redeemable Medicinal Value?"
	Alexandra Antonioli Junior, Butte High "An Investigation of the Remediation of Berkeley Pit Water Using Genetically Modified Extremophilic Yeast"