Some nice pictures of Opportunity

These pictures where shot by Ron N, an Opportunity resident. They show the beauty of our community and the breath taking scenery that we are trying to preserve.

Toxic tour

CFRTAC board members where treated to a tour of the ARCO/BP repository behind Opportunity on May 09, 2008. Charlie Coleman and Ken Brockman gave brief explanations of what was happening with the project and where the Mill Town waste material was being used.


Unloading of toxic waste at repository

Mill town waste, spread and seeded.

Charlie Coleman of the EPA
CFRTAC Board members at tour
Cats spreading Mill Town waste

What the EPA and Arco would like the finished ponds to look like.

They paint a pretty picture but is this capping and so called reclamation going to be a permanent fix? Time will tell...........

Mill Town Toxic sediments at the ARCO/BP repository

These pictures where taken off of the cfrtac website...
http://www.cfrtac.org/?p=217

One train a day, with 45 rail cars, makes the trip to the BP-ARCO repository.

Roughly 642,000 cubic yards of Milltown sediment has been shipped to BP-ARCO’s repository at the Anaconda Superfund site. CFRTAC coordinator Michael Kustudia, with assistance of pilot Gary Matson, recently flew over the repository and took these photos. The photo above shows the sediments being spread to form roughly a two-foot layer.

This repository cell awaits capping.

Milltown sediments, rich in both heavy metals and organic matter, are used to cap areas at the repository, which home to more than 300 million cubic yards of smelter waste.

photo's by Mike Kustudia

Once again

Well, Opportunity was once more blessed with a nasty dust storm. If it isn't smoke, its dust. Why does the EPA allow ARCO to do this to our beautiful community? Sometimes I wonder who is working for who. Its like we don't even exist in this community. Have you had a sore throat here lately? Its from the lime dust that is blowing into YOUR community. Think of what its doing to your lungs.. Thanks ARCO/BP, Thanks EPA, Thanks Montana Environmental Quality, Thanks Anaconda Deer Lodge County and Thanks ADLC health dept, we appreciate your concern.. Not..

Pollution basis of lawsuit

By John Grant Emeigh of The Montana Standard - 04/19/2008

About 90 residents in the Anaconda and Opportunity areas have filed a lawsuit against the Atlantic Richfield Co. and other companies — past and present — alleging the smelting operation contaminated their property and put the public health at risk.

The residents are seeking an undetermined amount of monetary damages for nearly a century’s worth of toxins that they claim have polluted the area by the smelting of the copper mined out of Butte, according to the lawsuit filed this week in Butte district court.

The 18-page complaint demands a jury trial in which the residents want to prove that the mining companies recklessly “jeopardized their property, health and welfare.” The lawsuit contends the defendants negligently released mine tailings, furnace slag, flue dust and numerous heavy metals into the air, soil, surface and ground waters in and around the smelting facility.

The complaint names several defendants including BP Amoco Corp., Atlantic Richfield Co., the Anaconda Mining Co., as well as the estate of Frank Day. The suit alleges the contaminants were created from the Anaconda smelting operations from 1884 to 1980.

Great Falls attorney Tom L. Lewis, who is representing the property owners in the lawsuit, didn’t return phone messages Thursday and Friday seeking comment.

Robin Bullock, the regional manager for Arco in Butte, said her company is reviewing the lawsuit and couldn’t comment on the specific allegations. However, she added that the company is disappointed it is being sued and that it has been involved in cleaning the site for the past 20 years.

“We are committed to completing what we have on our plate,” she said.

Bullock said the company has been complying with Environmental Protection Agency requirements for cleaning the site, which she said will continue over the next few years.

George Niland of Opportunity, who is one of the plaintiffs, said the Arco’s cleanup efforts have taken too long and aren’t satisfactory.

“Filing the lawsuit is our last straw,” Niland told The Montana Standard Friday morning.

Niland alleges that the EPA regulations by which ARCO abides allows for a certain amount of toxic materials in the soil. However, Niland claims there is arsenic in the soil on his property, and that it is still at a dangerous level despite the EPA regulations.

“That’s not acceptable to us,” he said.

Niland started the Opportunity Citizens Protection Association as a watchdog group to monitor the clean-up of that area’s Superfund site.

The lawsuit makes eight allegations including negligence and liability for abnormally dangerous activity.

“The defendants have failed and refused to timely and properly remove the contamination,” according to the court documents.

— Reporter John Grant Emeigh may be reached via e-mail at john.emeigh@lee.net or by telephone, 496-5511

Links to other news articles:

Pittsburg Tribune: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MT_ARCO_LAWSUIT_MTOL-?SITE=PAGRE&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Greatfalls Tribune: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080421/NEWS01/80421006

Redorbit: http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1349459/smelter_pollution_basis_of_lawsuit/

Research Brief 159: In utero and Early Postnatal Exposure to Arsenic May Alter Pulmonary Function

A report on the impact of developmental exposure to arsenic on lung development and function. More of this kind of work will be necessary to begin to get at underlying causes of asthma and other respiratory diseases in order to design primary prevention strategies. As it is now, far more resources go toward secondary and tertiary than primary prevention.

Ted Schettler

In utero and early postnatal exposure to toxicants can affect gene expression, which can alter organ structure and physiological function. University of Arizona (UA) SBRP investigator, Dr. Clark Lantz, and his research team believe that in utero and postnatal arsenic exposure via drinking water, at environmentally relevant doses, can result in altered gene expression. These alterations in gene expression may impact lung and blood vessel development, resulting in chronic disease as an adult.

Background: Growth and development require the expression of genes and gene products to be temporally and spatially coordinated postnatal exposure to toxicants can affect gene expression, which can alter organ structure and physiological function. University of Arizona (UA) SBRP investigator, Dr. Clark Lantz, and his research team believe that in utero and postnatal arsenic exposure via drinking water, at environmentally relevant doses, can result in altered gene expression. These alterations in gene expression may impact lung and blood vessel development, resulting in chronic disease as an adult.

Advances: Dr. Lantz's team is using a mouse model to explore the developmental effects of arsenic in the lung. To determine if arsenic exposure during critical development could alter pulmonary function, the researchers exposed male and female mice, prior to mating, with up to 100 ppb (parts per billion) arsenic via drinking water. Arsenic exposure continued throughout the pregnancy and after birth. Once the pups were weaned, they were given water with the same level of arsenic for 28 days. The researchers tested the pups' pulmonary function and found that arsenic exposure induced airway hyperreactivity. To determine if this change was permanent, the researchers switched the mouse pups previously exposed to arsenic to control water for 28 days. Pulmonary function tests showed no reversal in airway hyperreactivity, suggesting that alterations induced by in utero and early postnatal exposures to arsenic are not reversible with the removal of arsenic.

Adult mice exposed to arsenic via drinking water for four weeks did not show the same arsenic-induced increase in airway reactivity as seen in mice exposed during in utero and early postnatal development.

To determine how arsenic can cause these functional alterations, Dr. Lantz's team is examining anatomical changes in the airways and in tissues surrounding the airways. In humans, airway hyperreactivity is associated with increased levels of connective tissue and smooth muscle around the airways; the lab is currently looking at these parameters. Dr. Lantz's data indicate that the expression levels of some extracellular matrix genes are altered by arsenic, and there is an increase in the amount of smooth muscle that surrounds the airways. The researchers are applying quantitative anatomical analyses to verify these changes.

Significance: These findings may impact future public health policies by providing an intervention strategy to reduce adverse human health outcomes associated with arsenic exposure. It appears that the timing of exposure is important for inducing the alterations. For instance, in utero and early postnatal exposure can cause alterations in pulmonary function, while arsenic exposure, exclusively during the adult years, does not. Once exposure is established, alterations in pulmonary function cannot be reversed simply by removing the arsenic, which suggests that the timing of intervention strategies is important to reduce adverse effects.

These data also suggest that children exposed to arsenic during periods of critical development would have an increased risk of developing lower respiratory infections (LRI), which are a significant cause of infant morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Identifying environmental agents that may lead to increased LRIs, in addition to reducing exposure of pregnant mothers and young children to environmental agents, can, potentially, improve health in third world countries.

For More Information Contact:

R. Clark Lantz, Ph.D.
Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy
University of Arizona
1501 N. Campbell Ave.
PO Box 245044
Tucson, AZ 85724-5044
lantz@email.arizona.edu

As always, your feedback is welcomed.

Beth Anderson
Program Analyst
Superfund Basic Research Program
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
tainer@niehs.nih.gov

To learn more about the Superfund Basic Research Program, visit the SBRP web site.

All Research Briefs are available on the Research Briefs web page.

TIP FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT

PUT YOUR CAR KEYS BESIDE YOUR BED AT NIGHT

Put your car keys beside your bed at night. If you hear a noise outside your home or someone trying to get in your house, just press the panic button for your car. The alarm will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off or the car battery dies. This tip came from a neighborhood watch coordinator. Next time you come home for the night and you start to put your keys away, think of this: It's a security alarm system that you probably already have and requires no installation. Test it. It will go off from most everywhere inside your house and will keep honking until your battery runs down or until you
reset it with the button on the key fob chain. It works if you park in your driveway or garage If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying to break in your house, odds are the burglar or
rapist won't stick around... after a few seconds all the neighbors will be looking out their windows to see who is out there and sure enough the criminal won't want that. And remember to carry your keys while walking to your car in a parking lot. The alarm can work the same way there.....
This is something that should really be shared with everyone. Maybe it could save a life or a sexual abuse crime.
P.S. I am sending this to everyone I know because I think it is fantastic. It would also be useful for any emergency, such as a heart attack, where you can't reach a phone. A wife suggested to her husband to carry his car keys with him in case he falls outside and she doesn't hear him. He can activate the car alarm and then she'll know there's a problem.

Lunar Eclipse

Just thought I would share a few photos I took of the recent lunar eclipse..
Their not all that good but sort of cool...

Opportunity Song

Here is a song written and played by Chad Okrish, Professor at Montana Tech, for the town of Opportunity.

http://h1.ripway.com/regulator1/01-ChadOkrusch-OpportunityBlues(c)2007.mp3

In memory of Jack Francisco

OCPA has bought and installed a non slip carpet for the entrance to the Opportunity Community Club. Jack always said someone was going to slip on the wet tile some day, so OCPA took it upon themselves to install the carpet before someone actually falls and gets hurt. Thank you Jack for bringing this to mind for us.. OCPA.....

School Board Meeting

Anaconda School Board held their meeting on February 13 in the little theater in the Anaconda Senior High School. On the agenda was whether or not to give Anaconda Deer Lodge County a one year extension on their decision to buy the Beaver Dam School and property at fair market value or not. Discussions got a bit heated up between school board member Bill Johnson and Jim Kuipers when Jim asked them not to pull the carpet out from under the counties feet. The school board member stated to Jim that the school board has been very good about giving numerous extensions to the county and OCPA to let them get their ducks in a row and present the school board with a solid plan. He stated, the time has come to make a decision. ADLC CEO Becky Guay stated to the school board that the county IS willing to pay fair market value on the property, when the MDOT grant money started coming in. School board members agreed to give the county until the first part of March to present them with a plan.

DUST EVENT December 15, 2007 1 pm

More dust heading through Warm Springs and hanging over Deer Lodge.. Come on EPA, do your job.........