Basin to receive $31 million for mine cleanup

Decades after placing Basin on its Superfund National Priorities List to clean up significant mine-related contamination, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is committing $31 million to pick up where it left off.

This funding is part of $65 million awarded to three mining areas in Montana as part of President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, according to a March 7 news release by the Environmental Protection Agency. Other Superfund sites receiving funds include the Carpenter Snow Creek Mining District in Cascade County and the Upper Ten Mile Creek Mining Area in Lewis and Clark County.

According to Department of Environmental Quality Public Information Specialist Kevin Stone, this $31 million will be used to remediate the Bullion Mine site and the Crystal Mine site, removing high concentrations of contaminants such as copper, zinc, cadmium, iron, lead and arsenic. The funding will also be used to build passive water treatment systems at both sites, as one of the biggest concerns with the Bullion and Crystal mines is how the acid mine contaminants can potentially flow into Basin Creek and Cataract Creek, which in turn flow into the Boulder River.