No sooner had the EPA established the Superfund program in 1980 to clean up the nation’s toxic waste dumps and other abandoned hazardous waste sites, than a little Montana town found itself topping the new program’s National Priority List. Milltown, a place too small to warrant a listing in the U.S. Census, sat alongside a modest hydroelectric dam at the confluence of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot Rivers. For three-quarters of a century, arsenic-laced waste from some of the world’s largest copper-mining operations had accumulated behind the dam. Soon, Milltown became the site of Superfund’s first dam removal and watershed restoration, marking a turning point in U.S. environmental history. The story of this dramatic shift is the tale of individuals rallying to reclaim a place they valued beyond its utility. In Restoring the Shining Waters, David Brooks gives an intimate account of how local citizens—homeowners, university scientists, county health officials, grassroots environmentalists, business leaders, and thousands of engaged residents—brought about the removal of Milltown Dam. Interviews with townspeople, outside environmentalists, mining executives, and federal officials reveal how the everyday actions of individuals got the dam removed and, in the process, pushed Superfund to allow more public participation in decision making and to emphasize restoration over containment of polluted environments. A federal program designed to deal with the toxic legacies of industrialization thus became a starting point for restoring America’s most damaged environments, largely through the efforts of local communities. With curiosity, conviction, and a strong sense of place, the small town of Milltown helped restore an iconic western river valley—and in doing so, shaped the history of Superfund and modern environmentalism.

本書は、産業の残滓という負の遺産を、地域コミュニティの執念が希望へと変えていく奇跡のドキュメントです。著者デヴィッド・ブルックスは、単なる環境汚染の記録に留まらず、そこに生きる人々の土地への愛着という極めて文学的な熱量を浮き彫りにします。個人の声が巨大な制度を動かし、流域全体の再生へと繋がるプロセスは、失われた風景を取り戻そうとする人間の尊厳を力強く描き出しています。 特筆すべきは、科学的データと人間ドラマの鮮やかな融合です。学識者から主婦まで、多様な層が場所の価値を再定義し、国の政策さえも変革させていく姿は、現代社会における市民の力の可能性を確信させてくれます。沈殿した毒を浄化し、輝く水を呼び戻すまでの軌跡は、自然との共生を問い直すすべての現代人に捧げられた、魂を揺さぶる叙事詩と言えるでしょう。