Montana Public Radio

Nora Saks

Reporter
  • Nora Saks
    Nora Saks

Nora Saks is a reporter and producer based in Butte, MT.

In addition to covering mostly Superfund news, she's the host and producer of Richest Hill, a podcast about the past, present and future of one of America's most notorious Superfund sites.

Learn more at www.buttepodcast.org

We're also very social: @buttepodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Stay in touch: 978-996-5766 // nrv.saks@gmail.com

Anaconda Meeting Addresses Competing Water Quality Standards

By • Sep 19, 2019
About 50 people attended EPA's Superfund meeting at the Anaconda senior center to learn about the agency's proposed updates to the surface water remedy for the Anaconda Regional Waste, Water, and Soils Operable Unit. September 17, 2019.
Nora Saks / Montana Public Radio

The Environmental Protection Agency is rolling out an updated plan to protect Anaconda’s creeks from copper smelter waste. But some locals this week said they’re worried the federal government may back away from Montana’s strict water quality standards for heavy metals.

Butte Cleanup Deal Delayed As EPA Responds To Public Comment

By • Sep 9, 2019

Those awaiting the final Superfund cleanup deal, or consent decree, for the Butte Hill and urban Silver Bow Creek corridor are going to have to wait a little longer.

EPA Opens Comment Period On Proposed Anaconda Superfund Changes

By • Sep 4, 2019

Wednesday the EPA released the changes it wants to make to the existing 1998 legal cleanup plan for a 170 square mile portion of the Anaconda Smelter Superfund site. The proposed changes are aimed at better protecting creeks from contaminated runoff and erosion.

DEQ Completes Study Of Yankee Doodle Mine Tailings Expansion In Butte

By • Aug 15, 2019
Yankee Doodle Tailings Impoundment. Butte, MT. Oct. 3, 2018.
Nora Saks / Montana Public Radio

Copper mining company Montana Resources is now one step away from receiving approval from state regulators to expand its permanent mine tailings storage facility in Butte.

Since 1986, Montana Resources (MR) has been sending the slurry of waste from its open pit copper and molybdenum mine in Butte up to the Yankee Doodle Tailings Impoundment, which sits uphill and northeast of the Berkeley Pit.

Richest Hill Episode 05: Out Of The Frying Pan, Into The Fire

By • Aug 13, 2019
Richest Hill: a podcast about the past, present and future of one of America's largest Superfund sites in Butte, MT

From Evel Knievel to a 'Great Flood' and on to the dawning of the Superfund era, Episode 5 looks at the origins of the government program designed to force whoever made the mess to clean it up.

Parties To Final Butte Cleanup Deal Say They Need More Time

By • Aug 12, 2019
The Berkeley Pit in Butte
Mike Albans

Today is the day when a milestone in Butte’s Superfund cleanup was supposed to have been reached: a final Superfund deal for the Butte Hill. Now the parties negotiating that agreement say they need a little more time. 

On his last day on the job, former EPA Regional boss Doug Benevento told the parties hashing out the deal that they had until August 12 to get it done.

Testing Begins On Berkeley Pit Water Treatment Facility

By • Aug 7, 2019
AR's operations manager, Ron Halsey, stands in front of the intake pipe that siphons water originating indirectly from the Berkeley Pit into this new water polishing plant. August 6, 2019.
Nora Saks / Montana Public Radio

37 years ago, Atlantic Richfield abandoned an open pit copper mine in Butte and allowed it to flood with toxic mine water. Now, the company estimates they’re one month away from proving they’re in control of the Berkeley Pit. MTPR's Nora Saks got a sneak peek of their new water treatment facility and has more.

Anaconda Residents Detail Superfund Cleanup Concerns For EPA Watchdogs

By • Jul 12, 2019
Nora Saks

Wednesday night, Anacondans got a rare chance to speak directly about their experience with Superfund to the national office that investigates the Environmental Protection Agency. And most of what they had to say wasn’t complimentary.

Anaconda residents have attended countless Superfund meetings over the last 36 years. But unlike the others, this one wasn’t hosted by EPA.

Butte-Anaconda Superfund Cleanup A 'Top Priority' New EPA Region Chief Says

By • Jul 8, 2019
EPA Region 8's Betsy Smidinger and Greg Sopkin met with community stakeholders at Archives on Tuesday, June 11, 2019.
Nora Saks

The national office that audits the EPA is in Anaconda this week holding a listening session about the Superfund cleanup there.

Superfund is a priority for the EPA, according to the new chief of EPA Region 8. Montana Public Radio's Nora Saks sat down with him during his first visit to Butte last month to find out more about his priorities.

EPA Watchdog Seeks Feedback On Anaconda Superfund Cleanup

By • Jul 8, 2019
EPA Region 8 Administrator Greg Sopkin chats with Butte residents Evan Barrett and Mick Ringsak after a community stakeholder meeting at the Butte-Silver Bow Archives on Tuesday, June 11, 2019.
Nora Saks / Montana Public Radio

The national office that investigates the EPA wants to hear what people in Anaconda think about the Superfund cleanup there.

The independent Office of the Inspector General (OIG) looks for fraud, waste and abuse in the Environmental Protection Agency. It also evaluates EPA’s programs, like Superfund, and makes recommendations on how they could be improved.

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