The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced approximately $65 million in funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address cleanup projects at three Superfund sites across Montana: the Basin Mining Area, in Jefferson County; the Carpenter Snow Creek Mining District, in Cascade County; and the Upper Ten Mile Creek Mining Area in Lewis and Clark County.

The funding is aimed at continuing the cleanup of long-standing contamination of Superfund mining sites and watersheds according to EPA Regional Administrator KC Becker.

This is a historic funding of $3.5 billion for Superfund cleanup work. The funding is not just for cleanup, however, it will also enable EPA to accelerate “essential work needed to prepare sites” for construction and to enforce communities to be “meaningfully involved in the cleanup process.”

U.S. Senator Jon Tester said he is “proud to have secured this funding and is working closely with the EPA to apply it.

The Infrastructure Investment Act actually packs in a lot of things like public transportation, water and climate provisions including “green” provisions, and cybersecurity that will impact communities in numerous ways. It is touted as creating “millions of jobs modernizing our infrastructure,” and turning the “climate crisis into an opportunity.”

In 1980, Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, known as Superfund. The law gave EPA the authority and funds to hold polluters accountable for cleaning up the most contaminated sites across the country. When no viable responsible party is found or cannot afford the cleanup, EPA steps in to address risks to human health and the environment using funds appropriated by Congress, like the funding provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a once-in-a-generation investment that will create millions of jobs modernizing our infrastructure, turn the climate crisis into an opportunity, and put us on a path to win the economic competition for the 21st century.