Rep Powers drove half-way across the state to join her interim legislative committee in a field trip at the Zortman-Landusky and C.R. Kendall mines near Lewistown.  These gold mines used cyanide to extract the gold from the rock causing catastrophic levels of water pollution.

Although the mines are no longer operating, the state of Montana spends $3.5 million every year on water treatment because the companies who owned the mines went bankrupt.  Without water treatment, the nearby farms, ranches, and Indian Reservation would have toxic water.  This is a powerful example of how many extractive industries in the past were treated leniently by government requiring taxpayers to cleanup their mess in perpetuity.  It is imperative that state government require the highest standards for any extractive industries in our state.  We cannot let this keep happening to our people and our state.