Butte has had countless meetings on its Superfund issues over the last thirty years, but the technical nature of them has made it challenging for the public to stay informed.
Twenty-six-year-old Butte native Daniel Hogan is leading the effort to remedy that. He’s serving as an Americorps VISTA member this year at KBMF, Butte’s community radio station.
“There’s kind of a vacuum in dialogue,” he said.
In response, Hogan is organizing a public forumon Friday, February 23 at 7 p.m. at Montana Tech. The event will feature speakers from Tech, the city, and the community and will touch on public health concerns, the plan for the Berkeley Pit, and the EPA’s recent announcement on the cleanup of the Butte hill.
“When we talk about Superfund, there are those who have been involved for so long they get up and bark about it, and not a lot of pragmatic discussion happens. That’s what we want to do with this, is make a space where people feel comfortable laying out basic things and someone’s not going to snap at them because of something that happened 10 years ago or 20 years ago,” Hogan said.
KBMF will broadcast and stream the event live on its website from the Montana Tech Library Auditorium.