The Most Polluted City In America

Can Butte, Montana -- perhaps the most polluted city in the U.S. -- capitalize on its contamination?

1 minute read

March 29, 2001, 7:00 AM PST

"Butte, Montana, lives on its toxic waste. It is a filthy brick city of 33,000, built on a steep hill among the remains of dead copper mines... But Butte defies such easy dismissals. Indeed, its toxic wastes, however abhorrent, may prove in some way to be the city's salvation. There are those who believe that pollution may just possibly provide an important new economic base that will allow Butte if not to prosper, then to live on with dignity, and perhaps to avoid the clownishness and implicit servility that seems increasingly to color the vacationland of western Montana."

Thanks to Chris Steins

FULL STORY: The Profits of Doom

Sunday, April 1, 2001 in The Atlantic Monthly

Environment Montana

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