SEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Emergency and
Remedial Response
(5201 G)
July 2000
Superfund Redevelopment
Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area
Butte-Silver Bow Planning Board, MT
Pilots
EPA's Superfund Redevelopment Initiative (SRI) is a nationally coordinated effort to facilitate the return of Superfund
sites to productive use by selecting response actions consistent with anticipated use. The SRI Pilots are intended to
help local governments enhance their involvement in the Superfund decision-making process by assisting EPA in
predicting future land uses for Superfund sites. Under the Pilot Program, EPA will provide up to $100,000 in financial
assistance and/or services to local governments for specified activities. Applicants are offered several types of program
assistance, including funding through a cooperative agreement, access to facilitation services, and/or the availability of
personnel under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA).
BACKGROUND
EPA selected the Butte-Silver Bow Planning Board in
Montana for a Superfund Redevelopment Pilot. Silver
Bow County is home to the Silver Bow Creek/Butte
Area Superfund site. For the Pilot project, the county is
focusing on the Butte portion of the site. Historically,
Butte has been an important mining, milling, and
smelting district. Gold was discovered near Butte in
1864. By 1884, there were hundreds of operating
copper and silver mines, thousands of posted mining
claims, and eight smelters in the area. During the
many years of mining, over 500 mines and shafts were
developed, and millions of cubic yards of contaminated
tailings and waste rock were deposited in upland and
flood plain areas. Subsidence—the sudden collapse of
ground into a hollow space beneath it—is now a major
problem in the area due to the 3,000 miles of
underground tunnels and shafts that remain. The Silver
Bow Creek site was added to EPA's list of hazardous
waste sites needing cleanup in September 1983, and
the site was modified to include the Butte Area in July
1987.
OBJECTIVES
The Butte-Silver Bow Planning Board will use Pilot funds
to investigate and assess the potential subsidence
obstacles to redevelopment. This abandoned
neighborhood and its surrounding area has suffered
decades of neglect. Today, redevelopment efforts are
burdened by a persistent concern that the area may not
be a safe place to build structures due to the number of
underground mine shafts. The board hopes to produce a
credible, definitive assessment of subsidence. Once that
assessment has been made, the community will be able
to promote future development in the area.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Helena

Applicant Name: Butte-Silver Bow Planning
Board, MT
Site Name: Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area
Date of Selection: July 2000
Anticipated Award: Cooperative Agreement
($100,000)
Profile: The planning board will conduct an
assessment of the potential subsidence
obstacles to redeveloping the site.
Contacts:
Victor Ketellapper
U.S. EPA Region 8
(303) 312-6578
kete 11 a p pe r. vi cto r@e pa. g ov (DC Metro Area)
	reuse.info@epa.gov
Superfund Hotline:
(800) 424-9346 or
(703) 412-9810
Visit the EPA Superfund Redevelopment Web site
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/programs/recycle/pilot.htm

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