Energy company Atlantic Richfield Co., now a division of oil giant BP, must pay $150 million to clean up contamination from its long-closed Anaconda mine and copper smelter near Butte, Mont., under a settlement filed in federal court on June 8.
The Butte-Silver Bow Council of Commissioners approved the settlement in late May. Negotiated over 14 years with state and municipal officials and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, it now is subject to 30 days of comment and approval by the court.