STUDY NUMBER : 4.5 



ORGANIZATION ; Montana Department of Health and Environmental 

 Sciences (MDHES) and Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and 

 Parks (MDFWP) 



TITLE OF STUDY ; Studies Associated with the Collection of Back- 

 ground Data for the Natural Resources Claims Lawsuit 



CONTACT ( S ) ; Frank Crowley - Attorney - Montana Department 



of Health and Environmental Sciences - 444-2630 



Jim Posewitz - Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife 

 and Parks - 444-2603 



OBJECTIVE: Assemble data to quantify damages caused by the Ana- 

 conda Minerals Company to the upper Clark Fork River Basin in 

 preparation for a $50 million Natural Resource Claims lawsuit 

 (as per Section 107 of CERCLA) . 



DURATION ; November 1984 - settlement of lawsuit 



CURRENT STATUS ; In December, 1983, the Montana Department of 

 Health and Environmental Sciences and the Montana Department 

 of Fish, Wildlife and Parks filed suit against the Anaconda Min- 

 erals Co. /Atlantic Richfield Company for damages to natural re- 

 sources caused by past mining activities. In August, 1984, the 

 parties agreed to a stay of proceedings pending the completion 

 of the Silver Bow Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study and 

 the promulgation of rules by the Department of Interior. 



The 1987 Legislature approved a request for $200,000 to 

 fund the legal and technical staff needed to complete the assess- 

 ment. Staff from the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks 

 and the Department of Health and Environmental Sciences will 

 be assigned to this effort. 



Further data collection is occurring as part of several 

 ongoing water resource investigations in the upper Clark Fork 

 Basin. The U. S. Department of Interior has promulgated rules 

 for Natural Resource Damage Assessments, 43 CFR Part II Final 

 Rule. The procedures in the rule will assist authorized officials 

 to perform natural resource damage assessments for use in court 

 action or administrative proceedings when seeking compensation 

 for injuries to natural resources. 



FUTURE ACTIVITIES ; The staff assigned to this unit will develop 

 the law suit and the technical data needed to assess the natural 

 resource damages. These assessments are not identical to response fj 

 or remedial actions addressed by CERCLA (Superfund) and the Clean li 

 Water Act. The assessments are intended to supplement response 

 actions taken under CERCLA to compensate the public for injury 



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