Response: Implementation of these recommendations will 

 require very strong public support. 



Progress made by EPA has been disappointing. The 

 complexity of the issues certainly warrants a great deal 

 of study. However, there has not been much evidence of 

 innovative technologies, as called for in the recent 

 Clean Water Act Amendments. EPA has simply covered up 

 the problems in Walkerville, which may or may not work. 

 Once the feds leave, maintenance will be up to the state. 

 This maintenance may be substantial in areas where 

 reclamation and contouring does not work well. 



Three years have been spent on an emergency action in 

 Walkerville, and the result has been to cover up the 

 contaminated material. This will be followed by an RI/FS, 

 It is doubtful that new remediation techniques would 

 be attempted in these areas because so much money has 

 already been spent on the emergency work. 



Local resources have not been used to the full extent 

 possible (i.e., mining and engineering expertise at 

 Montana Tech) . 



EPA does not always play by its own rules - e.g., they 

 considered routing mine water to the Butte Metro Sewer, 

 which would violate the "pass-through" rule. 



There are innovative methods for reclamation, such as use 

 of zeolites, that should be explored. 



Bob Tribelhorn, SCS - Deer Lodge 



• New water storage projects to address instream flow needs 

 should be considered. There are possible sites, but 

 they would be expensive. 



Response: A recommendation to evaluate water storage 

 projects has been added on page 5-32, Instream Flow 

 section. 



• There is no timetable presented in the report for 

 resolving the Butte Mine Flooding issues. Considering 

 the effects the Butte Mine water would have on the 

 rest of the system, maybe something could be done to 

 help speed up some of the work that is necessary. 



Response: The Butte Mine Flooding is a high priority 

 for both EPA and DHES, and both groups are working on 

 solutions to this problem. 



A-3 



