Who is responsible for treating the water?
The Atlantic Richfield Co., a subsidiary of British Petroleum (ARCO or BP-ARCO) which bought out the Anaconda Co. in 1977, and Montana Resources (MR), the company now mining in the Continental Pit adjacent to the east of the Berkeley, are responsible, along with four other entities affiliated with MR: Asarco, Inc.; AR Montana Corp.; MR Inc., and Dennis Washington. If they fail to pump and treat the water to keep levels below 5,410 feet, the U.S. government (EPA) can take over the project and charge these companies up to three times the project cost.
