Associated Press - November 27, 2009 7:44 AM ET

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - A federal official says it will be late 2010 at the earliest before the Environmental Protection Agency could add a former copper processing operation near Great Falls to the Superfund environmental cleanup list.

The former Anaconda Mineral Co. smelter and refinery in Black Eagle is contaminated with heavy metals from decades of copper smelting that ended in the 1980. Nearby, 375 homes have shown elevated levels of lead and arsenic.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer this week requested that the site be added to the Superfund list.

Gwen Christiansen, the EPA Superfund coordinator in Denver, says the contamination does not appear to be severe enough to mandate an emergency cleanup. She says that by next spring the agency will decide whether to propose the site for the Superfund list, setting up a possible final decision by the fall.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.