Montana // Current

What are the Gitmo Alternatives?

Hundreds of detainees are still being held in the prison at Guantanamo Bay as... more

Jenime
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6 days ago
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1 comment

The Learning Curve

Profiles the life of a single mother of three in a small town in Montana. This piece... more

sardrinks
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1 month ago
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1 comment

Stop the Massive Removal of Cloud's Wild Horse Herd

Cloud and the wild horses of Montana's Pryor Mountains are world famous but fame it... more

northrunnnercano6
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3 months ago
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Montana: How to get a medical marijuana permit

Living in the big sky state allows its citizens certain protection when it comes to... more

JackHerer
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3 months ago
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A Cyber Stimulus Plan - Making a Way for Others

A lot of negativity is usually associated with hip hop. A hot new group from Peoria,... more

staciashock
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4 months ago
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The Oldest Man on Earth

When Henry Allingham died in England, Walter Breuning, who is now 112-years-old,... more

ebindelglass
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4 months ago
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New Montana Meth Project billboards

Woah ... these new anti-meth billboards are really hard-hitting. They touch especially... more

nazbags
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4 months ago
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2 comments

Bonding With My Dad

A ritual my dad and I would do on quite a few weekend nights back in Montana, the last... more

spooly
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5 months ago
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EPA declares asbestos emergency in town

The Environmental Protection Agency for the first time has declared a public health emergency in a contaminated community, targeting a Montana town Wednesday for immediate federal attention.

The declaration by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson involving Libby, Mont., will not result in an evacuation, but will require an extensive cleanup and better health protections for residents with asbestos-related illnesses.

Jackson called Libby a “tragic public health situation” that has not received the recognition it deserves from the federal government for far too long.

Asbestos contamination from a now-closed vermiculite operations near Libby has been cited in the deaths of more than 200 people and illnesses of thousands more. The vermiculite was used to make asbestos insulation material.

Miners carried asbestos home on their clothes, vermiculite once covered school running tracks in Libby and some residents used vermiculite as mulch in their home gardens.

The operations produced 70 percent of all vermiculite sold in the U.S. before they were closed in 1990 by owner W.R. Grace. Federal cleanup began in 2000 and the area was declared a Superfund priority in 2002.

W.R. Grace last year settled a lawsuit over the cleanup, agreeing to pay the U.S. government $250 million. The EPA has estimated the total cleanup and medical care cost could reach $350 million.

Last month, a jury acquitted three former W.R. Grace executives of knowingly allowing residents to be exposed to asbestos-related disease.

Jackson said the public health emergency declaration was the first time the EPA has made such a determination under authority of the 1980 Superfund law that requires the clean up of contaminated sites.

Investigations performed by the federal Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry have found that occurrences of asbestosis, a lung condition, near Libby are staggeringly higher than the national average for the period from 1979 to 1998, the EPA said in a press release.

“While EPA’s cleanup efforts have greatly reduced exposure, actual and potential releases of amphibole asbestos remain a significant threat to public health in that area,” it added.

The EPA is working with the Department of Health and Human Services, which is making available a $6 million grant to provide asbestos-related medical care to Libby and residents of Troy, another Montana town.The Environmental Protection Agency for the first time has declared a public health... more

ClipsFC
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5 months ago
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Montana town wants Gitmo prisoners

HARDIN, Mont. - On Capitol Hill, politicians are dead-set against transferring some of... more

ClipsFC
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6 months ago
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Gitmo In Montana?

The tiny town of Hardin, Montana, is offering an answer to a very thorny question: Where should the nation put terror detainees if the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is shut down by the end of the year as President Obama has pledged?

Hardin, Montana, says the Two Rivers Regional Detention Facility should be used for Gitmo detainees.

Hardin, population 3,400, sits in the southeast corner of Montana, in the state's poorest county. Its small downtown is almost deserted at midday. The Dollar Store is going out of business. The Hardin Mini Mall is already shut. The town needs jobs -- and fast.

Hardin borrowed $27 million through bonds to build the Two Rivers Regional Correctional Facility in hopes of creating new employment opportunities. The jail was ready for prisoners two years ago, but has yet to house a single prisoner.

People here say politics in the capital of Helena has kept it empty. But the city council last month voted 5-0 to back a proposal to bring Gitmo detainees -- some of the most hardened terrorists in the world -- to the facility.

"It would bring jobs. Believe it or not, it would even bring hope and opportunity," Greg Smith, Hardin's economic development director, told CNN.

But a decision on whether it becomes a reality is a long way off. The state's congressional leaders have lined up against the plan. "Housing potential terrorists in Montana is not good for our state," Max Baucus, the state's senior Democratic senator, wrote to Smith. "These people stop at nothing. Their primary goal in life, and death, is to destroy America."

Adds Sen. Jon Tester, "I just don't think it's appropriate, that's all. I don't think they know what they're asking for."

On North Central Avenue in downtown Hardin, opinion is mixed. See where Hardin is located »

Darlene McMillen says if the detainees move in, she is moving out. A part-time waitress at a Hardin restaurant, McMillen says her opinion is based on her son's experiences serving in the military in Afghanistan. "He said the people have no respect for any human life, even their own."

Manicurist Donovan Lindsay says bringing the detainees to Hardin would bring more law enforcement, and that would make the town safer. She also believes it would generate jobs . "We are the poorest county in the state of Montana and we need all the help we can get," she says.

...click above to read the full article...The tiny town of Hardin, Montana, is offering an answer to a very thorny question:... more