DENVER -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) celebrated a milestone achievement with the East Helena Public Schools and other agencies and organizations at a ground-breaking ceremony at the future location of the East Helena High School at 2760 Valley Drive in East Helena, Montana yesterday.

The East Helena Public Schools (EHPS) high school will welcome an anticipated 500-600 students. The opening ceremony was held yesterday, Monday, March 18, 2019 at 5:30 p.m. East Helena officials plan to open the $29.5 million school to students in 2020.

“The opening of the East Helena High School exemplifies what can be achieved when communities come together to focus on Superfund site reuse,” said EPA Assistant Regional Administrator Betsy Smidinger.  “Today, we celebrate a partnership that has made a shared vision a reality.”

EPA, EHPS, the Montana Environmental Trust Group LLC (METG), and the State of Montana worked with community residents to identify ways to reuse property that is protective of public health and the environment. METG, as trustee of the Montana Environmental Custodial Trust, sold 35 acres at the East Helena Superfund site to EHPS for the new high school in November 2018.

A land swap that clears the way for cleanup of an Eastside Jacksonville Superfund site has also expanded state parkland on Fort George Island, a nonprofit that was part of the deal said Monday.

The North Florida Land Trust set up the exchange between Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection and the Greenfield Environmental Multistate Trust, an organization responsible for cleaning up the former Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp. property at 1611 Talleyrand Ave.

The state of Montana proposes spending nearly $5.5 million on water infrastructure, wetlands rehabilitation and recreation trails and creek access on former ASARCO lands in East Helena.

Environmental Protection Agency project manager Erik Spalvins and Richard Elliott, project manager for the Multistate Environmental Response Trust, two of three groups heading up the Navassa Superfund site cleanup process with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, explain the site isn’t ready for cleanup yet, but it is far enough along to market to developers with an interest in the town.

NAVASSA — The first phase of development of the Kerr-McGee Superfund site in Navassa is still 18 to 24 months away, cleanup officials said at the quarterly update meeting Aug. 9 at Navassa Community Center.

But it’s the first notice residents received that the project is ready to move beyond samples and testing into clean up for the northern section of the site.

EAST HELENA – Voters in the East Helena school district have overwhelmingly approved the purchase of a land for a new high school.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Montana Environmental Trust Group are holding an open house Wednesday to discuss a draft report for environmental cleanup in East Helena.