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. 

By Chris Woodward, The Center Square

Wyoming and Montana are among the states that are most dependent on the federal government, according to a new ranking.

The ranking, from the personal finance website WalletHub, compared the 50 states across metrics such as return on taxes paid to the federal government, federal funding as a share of state revenue, and share of federal jobs. 

Jill Gonzalez, policy analyst at WalletHub, said both Wyoming and Montana receive a large amount of federal funding as a share of state revenue.

“In Wyoming federal funding represents more than 56% of the state’s revenue, the highest share nationwide,” she said. “In terms of residents’ dependency, both states have a large percentage of federal jobs, over 2.8% of total employment.”

Wyoming ranks sixth out of 10 when it comes to most federally dependent states. Montana ranks ninth. 

Other states finishing in the top-10 are Alaska (No. 1), West Virginia, Mississippi, Kentucky, New Mexico, South Carolina, Arizona, and Louisiana (No. 10). 

The least federally dependent states are Nevada (No. 41), Delaware, Iowa, Massachusetts, California, Illinois, Kansas, Utah, Washington, and New Jersey (No. 50). 

Wyoming and Montana did rank among states with the lowest amount of federal contracts received per money in federal taxes paid.

Wyoming has the lowest amount of grants received per money in federal taxes paid. Wyoming also has the lowest amount of other financial assistance received per money in federal taxes paid. 

Patrol agents in Minnesota and North Dakota continue to apprehend foreign nationals brought in by human smugglers in the dead of winter and illegally crossing the northern border from Canada, reports The Center Square.  

Instead of flying from Mexico and other countries to Canada to enter legally through ports of entry, border agents say foreign nationals are flying to Canada to enter the U.S. illegally between ports of entry while intentionally seeking to evade capture by law enforcement. But they do so at their own peril as temperatures reach double digits below zero and heavy snow is prohibitive for travel on foot and by car. 

Minnesota and North Dakota are located in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Grand Forks Sector, which has 7 Border Patrol stations responsible for covering 8 midwestern states and 861 miles of shared international border with Canada. In 2022, Border Patrol agents in the Grand Forks Sector apprehended 171 illegal foreign nationals and reported 10 who turned back to Canada. Grand Forks Sector agents also reported 293 gotaways.