EPA adds Black Eagle refinery site to Superfund list site

 Originally published on March 8, 2011, in the Great Falls Tribune
Click here for original link.
by Karl Puckett

The federal Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday put the former copper smelter and refinery property in Black Eagle on the federal Superfund list, citing the threat of remaining pollution to public health and the environment.

The 427-acre site contains heavy metals contamination from historic smelting and refining activities, according to the EPA. Operations began in 1893 and ceased in 1980.

Residential soils in Black Eagle and the Missouri River also will be investigated for potential cleanup, the EPA announced.

USACE Completes EIS on Missouri River Commercial Dredging

Originally pubished by Dredging Today
Feb 21st, 2011
Original Link: http://www.dredgingtoday.com/2011/02/21/usace-completes-eis-on-missouri-river-commercial-dredging-usa/

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on Missouri River Commercial Dredging. This EIS evaluates the potential impacts of private commercial dredging operations seeking USACE authorization to extract sand and gravel from the Missouri River. The Final EIS identifies the Environmentally Preferred Alternative, which would authorize a level of dredging that USACE believes would best protect the biological and physical environment and minimize the negative socioeconomic impacts on the local and regional economy and the sand and gravel industry.

Agreement seeks to balance Missouri River wildlife management with water quality needs

(this article was published in the Jan. 15 edition of the Missouri News Horizon. Here's the direct link, which includes a video interview with US EPA Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks: http://monewshorizonblog.org/2011/01/agreement-seeks-to-balance-missouri-river-wildlife-management-with-water-quality-needs/)

January 15, 2011 by Rebecca Townsend  
Missouri News Horizon

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Efforts to build habitat for the endangered pallid sturgeon also add to the nutrient load of the Missouri River, feeding the hypoxic area known as the dead-zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

In examining the challenge of having to comply with the potentially conflicting mandates of the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act, officials from four federal agencies came to an agreement, finalized Tuesday, to monitor all Army Corps of Engineers-constructed shallow water habitats to demonstrate the costs and benefits of the projects on both water quality and fish populations. Using scientific guidance from a recent National Academy of Sciences report on sediment management in the river, agency officials hope to establish a science-based blueprint from which employees can bolster endangered species populations without negative effects on water quality.