Upper Clark Fork River Basin

Upper Clark Fork River

NRDP

 

History/Background

 

Groundwater, Aquatic and Terrestrial Restoration

In 1983, the State of Montana (State) filed a lawsuit against the Atlantic Richfield Co., now BP-Atlantic Richfield (BP-AR), for injuries to the State’s natural resources in the Upper Clark Fork River Basin (UCFRB), which extends from Butte to Milltown. The lawsuit was brought under federal and state Superfund laws and sought damages from ARCO. Decades of extensive mining and mineral processing by ARCO and its predecessors in the Butte and Anaconda areas released hazardous substances that injured natural resources and deprived Montanans of their use. The natural resources injured included groundwater, aquatic, and terrestrial resources.

The State settled this lawsuit through a series of settlement agreements (known as “consent decrees”) completed in 1999, 2005, and 2008. The 1999 settlement established the Upper Clark Fork River Basin Restoration Fund (UCFRB Restoration Fund). See Milltown associated with the 2005 Settlement and for the 2008 settlement, see Anaconda Uplands, Butte Area One, and the Clark Fork River Operable Unit.

The UCFRB Restoration Fund contains no Montana taxpayer funds, is administered by the NRDP for the Governor of Montana (who is the trustee for natural resources of the State) and must be used to restore, rehabilitate, replace, or acquire the equivalent of the injured natural resources of the UCFRB. The Governor established the UCFRB Remediation and Restoration Citizens Advisory Council to facilitate public dialogue, promote public understanding, and advise the Governor with respect to issues involving remediation and restoration efforts in the UCFRB.

In 2012, an estimated $65.5 million was initially available for funding of projects to improve aquatic and terrestrial resources and related public recreational services and $40 million was available for the groundwater resources. The counties where injury occurred (Butte-Silver Bow and Anaconda-Deer Lodge) developed the groundwater restoration plans, approved by the Governor, to address their groundwater priorities. The State developed the UCFRB Aquatic and Terrestrial Resources Restoration Plans, with input from the public, describing how and when the proposed restoration actions would be implemented to address priority aquatic, terrestrial, and recreational resources. Aquatic and terrestrial restoration plans were originally approved by the Governor in January 2013 and revised in 2015 and 2019, per the 2012 Final Upper Clark Fork River Basin Interim Process Plan (“Process Plan”).

Pursuant to this Process Plan, the State will be updating and revising the restoration plans in 2023. More information is available on these updates in “Current/Recent Activities”.

 

In 1983, the State of Montana (State) filed a lawsuit against the Atlantic Richfield Co., now BP-Atlantic Richfield (BP-AR), for injuries to the State’s natural resources in the UCFRB, which extends from Butte to Milltown. The lawsuit was brought under federal and state Superfund laws and sought damages from BP-AR. Decades of mining and smelting by BP-AR and its predecessors in the Butte and Anaconda areas released hazardous substances that injured natural resources and deprived Montanans of their use. In 1989, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed another lawsuit to establish BP-AR’s liability for remedial cleanup in the UCFRB.

The NRDP pursued the natural resource damage (NRD) litigation against BP-AR on behalf of the State. The State settled this lawsuit through a series of settlement agreements/consent decrees completed in 1999, 2005, and 2008. The consent decrees along with the restoration plans approved pursuant to those decrees provide the framework for expenditures of natural resource damages obtained from those settlements.

1999 Settlement

2005 Settlement – Milltown Dam

2008 Settlement

Anaconda Deer Lodge County Groundwater Restoration Plan

$10.2 million from the 1999 Upper Clark Fork River Basin settlement was allocated to fund water system improvement projects in Anaconda Deer Lodge County. In 2019, Anaconda Deer Lodge County completed a 7-year, $10.2 million restoration project for replacement of century-old, corroded water mains along with voluntary water metering in the Anaconda municipal water service area. These Groundwater Restoration Plan (GWRP) projects comprised 54,000 linear feet of pipe replacements, and in concert with 69,000 linear feet installed prior to 2012, reduced system leakage from 2.2 million gallons per day to less than 400,000 gallons per day. Metering of 493 additional customers, plus 77 household pressure-reducing valves installed, augmented the critical water conservation mandate of this project.

Butte Silver Bow County Restoration Plan

In 2012, approximately $30 million from the 1999 Upper Clark Fork River Basin settlement was allocated to fund water system improvement projects in Butte-Silver Bow County. Using these funds, Butte-Silver Bow built the Basin Creek Water Treatment Plant (~$20 million), finished the Big Hole transmission line ($6 million), constructed the new southside pump station (that allowed for Basin Creek water to be pumped into the Colorado Hill Tank and then be delivered to uptown Butte) (~$2 million), installed a carbon dioxide feed system, soft-starts, and VFD’s for the pump motors at the Big Hole (Feely) Water Treatment Plant (~$1 million), and installed water service meters (~$1M). In addition, from 2001 through 2011 an additional $35.4 million was provide to Butte Silver Bow for other water system improvements helping to conserve their groundwater resources.

From 2001 to 2010, NRDP funded approximately $66 million in early restoration projects in Butte-Silver Bow County through the Grants Program. These funds came from the 1999 Upper Clark Fork River Basin settlement and were allocated as follows:

2001–10 Butte Water Lines $17.4 M
2001–10 Silver Bow Creek Greenway $23.6 M
2002–05 German Gulch Watershed $926,000
2003 Basin Creek Dam $503,000
2003–05 Duhaime Acquisition $1.67 M
2004 High Service Tank $1.19 M
2004–05 Big Butte Acquisition $688,000
2007–10 Big Hole Transmission Line $8.72 M
2007 Thompson Park $988,000
2008 Big Hole Dam $3.71 M
2008–10 Children’s Fishing Pond $1.23 M
2010 Big Hole Pump Station $3.50 M

Projects Funded with Natural Resource Damage Funds by County. List below shows all projects funded by Natural Resource Damage Funds including the UCFRB Restoration Fund, Butte Area One Fund, Anaconda Uplands Fund, and the Clark Fork River Fund. 

 

 

Since the Governor’s approval of the 2012 Restoration Plans, the State along with its partners have worked on implementing key elements of the aquatic and terrestrial restoration plans.  See 2025 Financial Update – UCFRB A_T Restoration Plans for the most up-to-date summary of activities and documents, including monitoring reports, that have been prepared.

2023 UCFRB Aquatic and Terrestrial Resources Restoration Plans Revision

The 2012 Final Upper Clark Fork River Basin Process Plan states not all aquatic or terrestrial restoration actions will be known at the time of the Restoration Plans’ development and provides those plans are to be reviewed, updated, and revised.  The 2018 Restoration Plans, Section 6.0, indicates the next update will occur in 2023.

Revisions to the aquatic and terrestrial restoration plans per the 2012 Final Upper Clark Fork River Basin Interim Process Plan involves solicitation for restoration project proposals, from the public, to be potentially included in revised restoration plans. See for restoration plans revision process and schedule. Guidance documents are also available in the Document folder. This will be out for public comment late January through March, see our public comments page for details.

RIPPLE

The Education Fund was established in 2014 through an amendment to the Final Upper Clark Fork River Basin Interim Restoration Process Plan (2012) which earmarked long-term funding for RIPPLE, formerly the Clark Fork Watershed Education Program (CFWEP). For more information on RIPPLE‘s webpage.

Aquatic and Terrestrial Restoration Plans

Prioritization Plans

Monitoring & Maintenance Plans

Annual Reports

Annual Fisheries Monitoring Reports

Flow Reports

Clark Fork River Ranch

Other

Notable Projects