Montana
Montana Tunnels: Another mining disaster – Daily Montanan
The severely misnamed Montana Department of Environmental Quality recently announced that it was “initiating the bond forfeiture process for the Montana Tunnels mine after the mine failed to make a $1.5 million reclamation bond payment in December that was a court-approved bankruptcy stipulation.”
This latest disaster — in a long string of abandoned, bankrupt and perpetually-polluting mines — brings to mind the old adage: “The once burnt child fears the fire.” But in Montana’s case, it’s more like we’ve been napalmed — and the state agencies, apparently incapable of learning from our costly and destructive mistakes, continue to permit mining.
The Montana Tunnels mine became “fully operational” in 1986. For those who may not remember, this was 10 years after ARCO bought out the Anaconda Co. in what Wall Street eventually called “the worst corporate acquisition of the decade.”
Forty years later, the “reclamation” debacle continues to drag on with Butte, Anaconda and the Upper Clark Fork carrying the stigma of being the largest Superfund site in the nation.
The year of 1986 was also well into the era when the mining industry promised “new” mining would never create environmental disasters. But considering the long list of environmental disasters the industry has since left behind, one might think our “regulatory” agencies would realize they shouldn’t consider the promises of mining corporations seriously.
The old “take the gold and declare bankruptcy” ploy has left Montanans on the taxpayer hook for more than $100 million at the former Pegasus Gold Zortman-Landusky mine alone — to say nothing of its abandoned Beal Mountain Mine. Then there was ASARCO’s Mike Horse Mine that poisoned the Blackfoot River when it’s poorly-engineered tailings dam failed — and that continues to leach and require treatment of acid mine drainage. Or how about W.R. Grace’s disaster in Libby that killed — and continues to kill — hundreds of Montanans thanks to asbestosis from their vermiculite mining operation?
And then, of course, there’s Golden Sunlight — hailed as the bright light of “new mining” — it now requires treatment in perpetuity to address cyanide-poisoned water at the very confluence of the Boulder and Jefferson rivers. This disaster launched the successful citizens’ initiative to ban cyanide heap leach mining in Montana in the late 1990s. Notably, it came from citizens, not Montana’s Legislature, governor or its “environmental quality” agency.
As noted in the recent article: “But the troubled mine hasn’t operated since 2008, and its permit was suspended in 2018 for failure to post an adequate bond. In December 2022, Montana Tunnels filed for Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection.”
The Department of Environmental Quality, meanwhile, holds about half of the $40 million reclamation cost.
Faced with another very large hole in the ground that’s filling with water as its side-walls collapse, the Gianforte administration, like the Republican and Democrat administrations before it, isn’t leaping into action to begin reclamation — it’s looking for someone to buy it and says it has five years before it terminates the permit.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me over and over and over again — shame on the Department of Environmental Quality and the Republican and Democrat governors who continue to ignore our constitution and sell out present and future generations by kowtowing to hit-and-run mining corporations.
George Ochenski is a longtime Helena resident, an environmental activist and Montana’s longest-running columnist.
KALISPELL, Mont. — The state’s top young rodeo athletes gathered in Kalispell this week for the Montana High School Rodeo Association Finals.
“There’s kids from all over the state coming and competing together and it’s just so fun to have such great competition, such a great organization, and to be able to run like this is super fun,” said rider Mackenzie Martell from Three Forks.
The MHSRA has over ten events including bareback riding, barrel racing, steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding, breakaway roping, tie down roping, and more.
The competition is drawn out over a week and there is a first go-round and second go-round of performances.
Five riders competed in the second go-round of bareback riding, and Wylee Berglund came out on top with a score of 68.5, staying aboard a bucking horse with nothing but a rigging to hold onto.
Next up was barrel racing which is the most competitive event in the competition with 58 total riders.
The rider taking first place for barrels was Brooklyn Russel from Helena, who set the record time of 15.61 seconds.
Steer wrestling’s Burke Nowak set a record time of 5.72 seconds in his second go-round.
The state competition goes until Saturday with the championship round at 1 p.m. and the year-end awards presentation at 5 p.m.
MISSOULA, Mt. — Thousands of athletes, coaches and volunteers are preparing to travel to Minnesota for the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games, which begin June 20 and run through June 26. The Games will bring competitors from all 50 states to the national stage.
Montana will be represented by 25 athletes and 28 volunteers from 18 communities across the state.
Four competitors from Missoula are among those getting ready for the trip. Jared Redeen as a bowling athlete, Jeff Redeen as a Unified partner in bowling, and Coley Stensgar-Maul and Vanessa Canham as golf athletes.
Team Montana athletes will compete in several events, including bocce, golf, gymnastics and bowling. The national competition is expected to bring together thousands of athletes and Unified partners, 1,500 coaches, 10,000 volunteers and tens of thousands of fans.
For the Montana athletes, the next few weeks will be focused on final practices, travel preparations and the excitement of representing their communities on one of the biggest stages in Special Olympics sports.
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The 2026 Special Olympics USA Games are designed to celebrate athletic competition, inclusion and the achievements of people with intellectual disabilities. For Team Montana, the trip is also a chance to show the work they have put in — and to compete for medals in front of a national crowd.
MISSOULA, Mont. — A federal jury has found a Honduran woman guilty of illegally reentering the United States and transporting a Mexican national who was in the country unlawfully, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
After a three-day trial, jurors convicted 41-year-old Yolanda Ernestina Soto-Antunez on charges of being in the United States illegally and transporting an undocumented immigrant.
Soto-Antunez faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris is scheduled to sentence her on July 9. She remains in custody pending sentencing.
According to prosecutors, a Phillips County sheriff’s deputy stopped Soto-Antunez for speeding on U.S. Highway 2 near Malta on March 6. After requesting assistance from U.S. Border Patrol agents to help translate, authorities determined Soto-Antunez was a Honduran citizen in the country illegally and that her passenger, a Mexican national, was also in the United States unlawfully.
Investigators said they discovered $18,000 in a duffel bag belonging to the passenger. The man told agents he was traveling to Washington to borrow an additional $12,000 from a relative, bringing the total to $30,000. According to court testimony, the money was intended to pay for his sister to be smuggled into the United States, and Soto-Antunez was expected to deliver the funds to a group in Tijuana, Mexico.
Federal authorities also determined Soto-Antunez had previously been deported in June 2012 and illegally reentered the United States in August 2016.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Phillips County Sheriff’s Office. The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case.
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