EPA Resumes Yard Excavations in East Helena to Remove Lead-Contaminated Soil

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday that it will excavate additional residential properties in East Helena this week as part of the long-running cleanup of the former ASARCO smelter site, one of Montana's most complex Superfund cases. The work targets yards where soil lead levels exceed the agency's safety threshold, and the EPA said any property inside the East Helena Superfund boundaries that tests above that threshold qualifies for remediation at no cost to the homeowner.

The East Helena smelter operated for more than a century before ASARCO declared bankruptcy in 2005, leaving behind a legacy of lead and arsenic contamination in soil across a substantial portion of the community. The EPA designated the site a Superfund priority decades ago, and cleanup has proceeded in phases ever since — removing contaminated soil from yards, replacing it with clean fill, and restoring landscaping. For many East Helena families, the process has meant repeated contact with federal contractors and temporary disruption to their yards.

The EPA's announcement did not specify how many properties are scheduled for excavation this week or provide a cumulative count of homes remediated to date, but the agency has cleaned up hundreds of residential properties in the East Helena area over the course of the Superfund process. Residents who believe their property may qualify can contact the EPA's Montana office to request a soil survey. The agency conducts the sampling and, if lead levels exceed the threshold, schedules excavation — typically removing the top layer of soil, disposing of it as hazardous waste, and backfilling with clean material.

For East Helena residents and families with children, the remediation program remains one of the most direct ways the federal cleanup translates into reduced health risk. Lead exposure in young children is associated with developmental and neurological harm even at low levels, and the EPA has identified residential soil as one of the primary exposure pathways in communities near former smelter sites.