Anaconda 'Mothballs'~ 11J2) 95-Y ear-Old Smelter ANACONDA, Mont. (UPI) - "This difficult decision," ing the copper firm met with Townspeople in this western said the otherwise matter-of Schwinden at the Capitol in Montana town of 9,000 were fact company announcement, Helena only an hour before the stunned today by the was reached after "exhaust public announcement at the Anaconda Copper Co.'s ing every option available" to 25-minute news conference. announcement that it was bring the Anaconda smelter Schwinden accused the shutting down a 95-year-old into compliance with clean-air company of a "failure to smelter - the area's chief standards. reinvest a portion of the industry. James L. Marvin, president billions it has earned in Mon "It's a sad situation," said of the company that was tana ... " Gene Lutey, president of the bought by Atlantic Richfield "For years," he said, "the Anaconda Chamber of Com Co. in 1976, said the cost of company took the money and merce. achieving environmental ran. The decision today is Four-fifths of the jobs in compliance would be "pro literally a tragic chapter in Anaconda are linked to the hibitive." the long history of industrial 95-year-old smelter that is to "The agonizing facts are we exploitation of the people and be "moth-balled and main see no viable option at this resources of Montana." tained," according to a com_. time, other than to suspend The Anaconda Co. was pany announcement at a operations at these two loca formed in Montana after the Helena news conference Mon tions" - the smelter in discovery of copper at Butte day. Lutey said he wouldn't Anaconda and an electrolytic nearly 100 years ago. The be surprised if 90 percent of refinery in Great Falls. company's influence was Anaconda's businesses go Fifteen hundred workers - such that it was instrumental bankrupt because of the de 1,000 at Anaconda, 500 at not only in the state's cision. Great Falls - will lose their economy but also in its Monday's announcement jobs bee ause of the closures. politics: Winners of important "stunned" Lutey, he said, They will be afforded elections often had the com and apparently hit thousands severance and pension pany's backing. of others the same way, benefits, Marvin said, and a $5 As late as the 1950s, the including Montana's govern million "community readjus Anaconda Co. owned ment leaders. tment fund," at the com newspapers in four of Mon "I am shocked and angered pany's expense, will be used tana's five largest cities. that the Anaconda Company to help the impacted com That is all changed. has pulled the plug on com munities. "We're dealing with an oil munities where it has "The management of company now," is how Rep. operated profitably for almost Anaconda delivered the worst Pat Williams, D-Mont., sees 100 years," said Lt. Gov. Ted possible news,': Schwinden it. "And I'm not sure ARCO Schwinden, who was serving remarked after he learned can find Montana on a map." as acting governor when he first-hand from company of Williams grew up in the got the news Monday morn ficials of the planned pullout. nearby copper-mining town of ing. Marvin and others represent- Butte.