Superfund to clean up the site and then seek to recover up to 

 three times the cost of the cleanup from the responsible 

 party. If the responsible party undertakes the recommended 

 cleanup, EPA oversees the activity through a court-ordered 

 consent decree. 



Studies were initiated by EPA in 1982 to characterize 

 the extent and severity of contamination in the headwaters 

 area. There are currently four separate, but contiguous 

 Superfund sites in the Clark Fork Basin (Figure 3-1) . The 

 three in the headwaters are the Silver Bow Creek/ Butte 

 Addition site, the Montana Pole site, and the Anaconda 

 Smelter site. The fourth is the Milltown Reservoir site a 

 few miles upstream of Missoula. Site histories, current 

 status, and future activities for each site are presented in 

 Table 3-5. 



Seventy-seven existing or potential contamination 

 problems were initially identified within the four sites. 

 The EPA, with state support, has developed a Superfund 

 Master Plan to describe these problems and their inter- 

 relationships, define cleanup goals and objectives, and 

 coordinate the actions that will be taken to reach these 

 goals (EPA and DHES 1988) . The Master Plan is intended to be 

 a public document that briefly describes the problems at the 

 sites and the corrective actions and schedules for dealing 

 with the problems. Schedules for priority activities planned 

 for the next several years are presented in the plan, which 

 was released in October 1988. 



Some of the more specific objectives of the Master Plan 

 are the following: 



• Communicate information on Superfund activities to 

 all interested parties. 



• Identify, prioritize, and coordinate intersite 

 activities. 



• Coordinate Superfund activities with other environ- 

 mental improvement programs. 



• Provide for consistent and uniform data require- 

 ments and cleanup standards for all sites. 



Investigations at each site must include an evaluation 

 of the applicable and relevant or appropriate requirements 

 (ARARs) . These evaluations are intended to determine the 

 standards that must be achieved during cleanup. There is a 

 strong linkage between Superfund ARARs and water quality 

 standards in the Clark Fork Basin. Superfund actions taken 



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