EPA to replace more East Helena yards in ASARCO cleanup effort

East Helena families are still living with ASARCO-era lead and arsenic in their yards, and the EPA is preparing to replace more contaminated soil this summer as part of the long-running Superfund cleanup. The work targets the places children touch every day, from lawns and gardens to play areas, more than two decades after the former smelter shut down in 2001.

The latest phase is focused on residential yards with more than 400 parts per million lead in soil. EPA and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality lowered the cleanup level from 500 ppm to 400 ppm in 2024 and removed the old 1,000 ppm trigger, a change that made roughly 200 to 300 properties newly eligible for remediation. Local reporting in January said EPA expected to clean up about 100 properties in 2026 and another 100 in 2027, with the broader phase finishing by late 2027.

Crews are expected to remove about 18 inches of contaminated soil, replace it with clean fill and then relandscape each property. EPA said the new standard followed 2023 soil testing in East Helena that found bioavailability ranging from 52% to 85%, above the 60% default used in EPA models and enough to justify a tighter cleanup threshold.

The effort is backed by $40 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding and about $10 million still available from the ASARCO bankruptcy settlement. EPA said more than 100 residents had already signed access agreements for the latest phase, giving the agency a firm base for the summer work that is set to run from June through October, weather permitting.

Weston Solutions, the remediation contractor, said it will maintain a locally based East Helena project office and a property-coordination team to help residents schedule access and manage the work. The company also said it planned optional summer day-camp vouchers for families during the construction season, a reminder that even cleanup meant to reduce risk can disrupt daily life while backhoes and soil trucks are on the block.

The East Helena Superfund site was added to the National Priorities List in 1984, and cleanup has continued since 1991 across hundreds of properties, alleyways and road aprons. EPA’s sixth five-year review of the site is due in 2026, underscoring that the town’s industrial legacy is still being measured, mapped and removed parcel by parcel.