DENVER (Legal Newsline) — The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have announced a settlement with American Chemet Corp. (Chemet) that will allow the organizations to look into hazardous substance contamination at the company’s plant within the East Helena, Montana, Superfund site. The agreement will go before public comment for 30 days.
The agreement will allow an assessment of environmental contamination and determination of cleanup needs. The EPA believes the site contains lead and arsenic contaminants. The property will begin being assessed by the end of this year.
The EPA placed the East Helena Superfund site on its National Priorities List in 1984. The site is near East Helena, and includes the Asarco smelter that was decommissioned and the Chemet industrial facility. Chemet’s plant contains 7 acres.
Chemet has facilities in Montana, Tennessee and Illinois. It produces zinc and copper-based chemicals that are used in agriculture and in aquatic and marine environments.