BUTTE - 2023 is over and it was a big year for news in Butte. Many of the stories our team covered in Butte will continue into the new year.
Chief among them will be the Superfund cleanup along the Silver Bow corridor which is expected to get started this summer. In 2023, there was much criticism over the EPA’s transparency over its cleanup plans with many people demanding the environmental agency be more forthcoming.
“This dirty dirt proposal was developed 100 percent behind closed doors. I know that since last October at least EPA has been working with the parties on this behind closed doors,” Butte resident Evan Barrett said at a public meeting in August.
Many residents in the Centerville area also expressed concerns about a proposed waste repository near its neighborhood where mining waste may be dumped and capped.
On the business and economic front, it was a time of new beginnings and endings. The M&M bar and grill reopened in February after the iconic Butte eatery was destroyed in a fire in 2021.
Production on the second season Yellowstone series "1923" came to a halt in 2023 due to the writer’s strike. Much of the first season was shot in Butte in 2022, but it’s unlikely large-scale filming will return to Butte.
In Police news last year, a hit-and-run incident on the evening of July 3 left a young Butte man dead. The alleged driver, Shania O’Brian, is expected to go to trial later this month on a felony charge of vehicular homicide while under the influence.
In August, a major breakthrough occurred in an 11-year-old mystery when investigators identified the person belonging to a pair of severed legs that were found in a wooded area north of Butte in 2012. DNA records identified the legs belonging to 46-year-old drifter Michael Wayne Canada. The strange case remains under investigation.
Last summer, outdoor groups announced an environmental study of the Big Hole River and other waterways to try to determine what’s causing an alarming drop in brown and rainbow trout populations. Water monitors were placed in the Big Hole, Jefferson, Ruby and Beaverhead rivers.
“It’s really critical that we are gathering this data and we can start working towards solutions that will provide longevity for our wild trout populations,” said Save Wild Trout spokesperson Quincey Johnson at the Big Hole River in August.
Owners of the Silver Bow Drive-In Theater raised concerns about a gas station and convenience store that plans to open next to it off I-15. The drive-in owners fear noise and light pollution will hurt the movie-going experience of the business which has been operating there since 1977. This matter is being reviewed by the Zoning Board.
Our team here at KXLF will be covering these stories and much more in 2024.
