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Shout Out for Citizens to Serve: Help Guide Butte’s Superfund Redevelopment Future. For those who missed it, Butte has done it again. The December issue of National Geographic features a story titled “Wasteland” by author Paul Voosen. The story revisits Superfund sites and cleanups across our nation and the 49 million Americans, or 1 in 6 of us who live nearby them. A sprawling panorama of Butte’s Berkeley Pit landscape is included in the spread of photos by photographer Fritz Hoffman. (Visit http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/superfund/voosen-text to read the story/see the photo, or pick up a copy at the newsstand.) For Butte, this type of story is nothing new. Our circumstances of facing environmental challenges will continue to be fodder for all levels of the media for decades. Most past stories have covered the problems. But Voosen’s article, in a refreshing change, focuses on the progress made throughout the country and the solutions devised to overcome the problems. In Butte, we need to continue that focus. At this point in our Superfund cleanup marathon, our community needs to concentrate on effectively implementing the decisions already in place, while at the same time, keep coming up with innovative solutions to our remaining environmental challenges and the ones to come. To that end, our Council of Commissioners recently passed a landmark ordinance to set up a citizen group to advise our local government on Superfund issues. One major charge for the new Redevelopment Advisory Board will be to make sound decisions on how we spend funds from a special trust established through a settlement with the Atlantic Richfield Corporation. Bear in mind that more than $400 million has already been spent on several cleanup projects in Butte. Overall, almost $2 billion will be spent on projects in the Upper Clark Fork River watershed, including hundreds of millions being set aside to operate and maintain the cleanups in perpetuity. This is good. In addition to all that, though, the fact remains: Butte will need to deal with the residual effects of our environmental past and the remedies in place long into the future. An assurance that our community will be able to progress in spite of this reality is the “Redevelopment Trust Fund”, created solely to promote our city’s safe redevelopment and revitalization to a more prosperous future. There will be a lot to cover in the coming months on policies, procedures, and the many, many details related to this Trust account. For now, we need to set up the Advisory Board. This is a real chance for citizens to be involved in something of great value to our community, now and into the future. This editorial is to encourage interested Butte-Silver Bow citizens to submit an application for consideration. Service on this new board will be a time-consuming and demanding task, but again, this is a BIG opportunity for citizens to make a difference for Butte’s future generations. Butte has done a remarkable job of leading the way nationally in how to deal with massive environmental issues. We are and will continue to be “The Mining City” for as long as the ore reserves hold. At the same time, over the past 20 years, we have established ourselves equally as “The ---PAGE BREAK--- Restoration City,” creating a significant local and regional economy in the research and implementation of our varied and innovative environmental technologies, from the cleanup, management and redevelopment of the Butte Hill and Silver Bow Creek, all the way to the removal of the Milltown Dam in Bonner. Simply put our unheralded mining and smelting legacy has laid the foundation for a monumental future in environmental restoration and management. Perhaps the most important and poignant point of Voosen’s recent article is the following question posed: How do we live with contaminated land? In Butte, that everyday question has become a rallying charge to face our challenges and find innovative solutions. I invite you to help our community continue down this path. We have plenty of work and improvements to consider and how we deal with our environmental challenges today will greatly affect our generations to come. Please visit our website at http://co.silverbow.mt.us/ to view the ordinance in detail, or contact my office at 497-6214 for more information. To apply, please submit a letter with your qualifications and a statement of why you would like to serve to [EMAIL REDACTED] or send paper applications to BSB Chief Executive ATTN: Superfund Advisory, 155 West Granite, Butte, MT 59701.