美国国家公共电台 NPR Montana Residents Ask Supreme Court To Allow Cleanup Beyond Superfund Requirements

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Close to 100 Montanans are taking on one of the largest corporations in the world today at the U.S. Supreme¹ Court. Residents of two small towns say Arco, the Atlantic Richfield Company owned by BP, needs to go beyond what the law to clean up toxic² waste from a century of mining. Here's Montana Public Radio's Nick Mott.

NICK MOTT, BYLINE³: Fewer than 500 people live in Opportunity and Crackerville. From behind the wheel on a gravel⁴ road, the landscape here is rolling hills and jagged peaks.

SHAUN HOOLAHAN: This is the house, right over here, that I grew up in.

MOTT: Shaun Hoolahan's house is not far from the valley's defining feature - a massive gray smokestack from a historic copper⁵ smelter perched on a tongue of land protruding⁶ from the mountains outside of town.

HOOLAHAN: It's - what? - 585 feet high. You can put the Washington Monument inside of it. It's that big.

MOTT: For almost a century, that smokestack spit out up to 24 tons of arsenic⁷ per day over an area the size of New York City. A 1996 Superfund agreement required Arco to clean it up. Superfund is the federal program for dealing⁸ with toxic waste. Arco's $470 million cleanup included scraping away up to 18 inches of soil from the yards of about two dozen homes here, including Hoolahan's. It put down a barrier and then covered it with fresh earth. That wasn't good enough for Hoolahan and close to a hundred other locals, so they sued Arco in 2008.

FRANK COONEY: If somebody dumps something on your property, A, it's a nuisance. And B, it devalues your property. And C, it's not your responsibility to pick up their mess.

MOTT: Residents say there's still too much arsenic in the soil and want Arco to go beyond what the Superfund agreement requires. That would cost more than $50 million.

F COONEY: In Montana, we have a constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment.

MOTT: Frank and Vickie Cooney, also parties to the lawsuit⁹, live just down the street from Hoolahan. Their yard was cleaned up, too.

F COONEY: I noticed some strange things started happening because - well, I got cancer in 2014 the first time - was prostate cancer. Then a year later, I come down with a brain tumor¹⁰. And then earlier this year, I come down with a very rare bone cancer.

MOTT: Long-term exposure to arsenic can cause cancer. The Cooneys recognize they can never know for sure if it caused Frank's ailments¹¹. But...

VICKIE COONEY: It just makes you wonder.

MOTT: Now they only drink bottled water. They say the stigma¹² of the cleanup destroyed the value of their home. And they're even more worried about their children and grandkids.

V COONEY: They were out in that dirt, you know, on four-wheelers and on their bikes. And so...

F COONEY: On the swingset that we have out there (ph).

V COONEY: So what did it do to them?

MOTT: In 2017, Montana's Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hoolahan, the Cooneys and other locals. Arco, backed by the EPA, argued that federal Superfund law trumps¹³ state claims and petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court. They argued that the cleanup deal was a negotiated settlement and that locals had plenty of chances to influence its requirements. Suing to go beyond Superfund, Arco says, is, quote, "the very definition of madness", unquote, and could result in chaos¹⁴ in Superfund sites across the country. Arco and the EPA declined comment for this story. But Peter Tolsdorf with the National Association of Manufacturers, which is backing Arco, says...

PETER TOLSDORF: If this decision stands, it will put a question in the minds of every entity¹⁵ that is involved in any way with the Superfund site - can I rely on the process that's in place with EPA to remediate the site?

MOTT: Tolsdorf says Superfund needs certainty to be effective and that the locals' plan would interfere¹⁶ with the cleanup itself and make things worse by stirring up contaminated soil.

Backing Opportunity residents are environmental organizations, property rights groups and a coalition¹⁷ of 14 states. They say EPA standards are a starting point, not an end, to the cleanup. The states - including California, Washington and New York but not Montana - say it's a case about federalism, and Superfund was designed to protect states' rights. If the court rules in favor of Opportunity residents, the case will return to Montana for a jury trial.

For NPR News, I'm Nick Mott in Opportunity, Mont.

(SOUNDBITE OF ZOMBIE WESTERN'S "TIDES")

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。

5 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

6 protruding   

v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸

参考例句：

• He hung his coat on a nail protruding from the wall. 他把上衣挂在凸出墙面的一根钉子上。
• There is a protruding shelf over a fireplace. 壁炉上方有个突出的架子。 来自辞典例句

7 arsenic   

n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的

参考例句：

• His wife poisoned him with arsenic.他的妻子用砒霜把他毒死了。
• Arsenic is a poison.砒霜是毒药。

8 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

9 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

10 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。

11 ailments   

疾病（尤指慢性病），不适( ailment的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His ailments include a mild heart attack and arthritis. 他患有轻度心脏病和关节炎。
• He hospitalizes patients for minor ailments. 他把只有小病的患者也送进医院。

12 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

13 trumps   

abbr.trumpets 喇叭；小号；喇叭形状的东西；喇叭筒v.（牌戏）出王牌赢（一牌或一墩）( trump的过去式 )；吹号公告，吹号庆祝；吹喇叭；捏造

参考例句：

• On the day of the match the team turned up trumps. 比赛那天该队出乎意料地获得胜利。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Every time John is late getting home he trumps up some new excuse. 每次约翰晚回家都会编造个新借口。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

15 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

16 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

17 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。