1. copyright PMunday 20091 Historical Preservation, Environmental Cleanup, and the Restoration Economy Pat Munday, PhD Professor of Science & Technology Studies pmunday@mtech.edu http://ecorover.blogspot.com

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3. 3 America’s Largest Superfund Site

4. copyright PMunday 20094 Federal Legislation 1935: Historic Sites Act 1960: National Historic Landmarks 1966: Historic Preservation Act 1970: Environmental Protection Agency 1980: Superfund; National Priorities List

5. copyright PMunday 20095 Key Local Events 1955: transition from underground to open pit mining –Loss of neighborhoods; plan to move uptown –1976: residents refused plan for pit expansion 1962: Butte uptown as National Historic Landmark (expanded 1972; 2006) 1963: “World Museum of Mining” 1977: ACM-Arco merger (Arco as Responsible Party) 1980: Anaconda smelter closed

6. copyright PMunday 20096 Key Local Events 1983: Berkeley Pit closed; Montana sued Arco for Natural Resource Damages 1984: Wanted: Butte houses, will move… 1985: Butte Historic Preservation Office; historic zoning 1989: Citizens Technical Environmental Committee 1994: Butte Citizens for Preservation & Revitalization 2006: Butte Restoration Alliance

7. copyright PMunday 20097 Butte as Postindustrial City Mining Culture as identity Mythic struggle –Dangerous occupation –Union vs. the company End of mining  construction of new identity Historic preservation of structures, landscape Cleanup of hazardous waste (arsenic, heavy Mx) Pragmatic: “Restoration Economy”

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9. 9 Berkeley Pit viewing stand display

10. copyright PMunday 200910 Great Falls Tribune file photo

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21. copyright PMunday 200921 Preservation vs. Cleanup? Historical preservation at Superfund sites –Local cultural significance (Quinn 1988, 1992) –Archaeological & historic information (Quivik 2000, 2001; White, 2003) –“Myth of permanence vs. myth of transience” in American history (Schwarzer 1994) Remarkably little controversy in Butte

22. copyright PMunday 200922 Historic preservation and environmental protection Gallows frames: sense of place; identity politics; paid in blood & sacrifice Granite Mtn landscape: technological sublime; monument; pragmatic compromise Black Slag Canyon: interesting historical feature; pragmatic compromise

23. copyright PMunday 200923 “All History is Local” Historic preservation, environmental cleanup, restoration economy: acts of political resistance Butte as quasi-company town (Anaconda Copper Mining Company, or “ACM”) Strong labor movement Mistrust of ACM/Arco Sense of place encompassing both industrial history and environmental health

24. copyright PMunday 200924 Conclusion Pragmatic approach to balancing cleanup with preservation Preserve individual structures with high symbolic value Preserve landscape features if minimal compromise with environmental & human health Cleanup = jobs; preservation = symbolic benefits Several key activists instrumental in both cleanup & preservation “Make Arco pay” (“polluter pays” principle of Superfund) Arco: preservation/adaptive reuse cheaper than cleanup Challenge: artifacts do not speak for themselves; interpretation often lacking or narrow

25. copyright PMunday 200925 The author thanks the National Science Foundation for supporting this work (Award ID 0646731).