Ambassador's Corner

WEEKLY MESSAGE FROM AMBASSADOR JOHN BRUTON

July 28, 2009

Butte, Montana

Last week I visited Butte, Montana, once one of the largest American cities west of the Mississippi, but now reduced in population because of the decline of its principal industry, mining. At one time, 100,000 people lived in Butte. Now the population is only 30,000. But it has a great community spirit and local people are determined to find new ways to revive the city’s economy, notably through tourism.

I was honoured by a reception in the city courthouse where I was introduced by the Council Chairman, Dave Palmer, and met many of the civic and political leaders of Southwestern Montana. I reflected on the fact that people of so many of the nationalities of Europe have played a part in the history of Butte.

When mining was at its peak in Butte, about 100 years ago, people came there to work from all over Europe. The “No smoking” sign underground in the mine had to be in 14 different languages to ensure that all the miners got the message! Butte also had one of the largest red light districts in the world at the time.

The city had geographically distinct ethnic neighbourhoods for Irish, Welsh, German, Serbian, Croatian, Slovene, Swedish, Danish, African American, Native American, Cornish, Italian, Chinese and other communities.

Butte has one of the few Serbian Orthodox churches in the Western United States and it is beautifully decorated by the efforts of the local Orthodox Christian community.

At its peak, Butte had no rival in the world in the production and size of workforce in mining.

Copper production in Butte played a vital rôle in the electrification of the world as copper is essential in electricity transmission.

The mining companies played a key rôle in Montana politics. The mining companies owned five of the six newspapers in the State. Montana was the first state to elect a woman to Congress, Janette Rankin in 1917. She was opposed to US participation in both World War I and World War II.

While in Butte, I was shown the Berkeley Pit, a former open pit copper mine, which is a mile long and half a mile wide. It is slowly filling up with highly acidic water accumulated from surrounding mine shafts. Originally the area was a suburb of Butte, but the homes were bought up or destroyed to make way for the mine. There is a concern that, as the level of water in the pit rises, it may eventually pollute the ground water supply used by the residents. New fungal and bacteriological species have been found to have adapted to the harsh conditions in this pit, and some of them may prove useful in attacking certain cancers.

I also visited the World Museum of Mining, where the guide, who also works as a miner, gave a really graphic description of the highly dangerous and short lives of the early Butte miners. I also visited a memorial to the many miners who met their deaths in the course of their work.

In the heyday of Butte mining, the Irish community was the largest of all the European communities in Butte. Many of them came from the Beara Peninsula in West Cork, where copper mining had recently ceased, and their mining skills and tradition was easily transferred to a very different setting in South-western Montana. At one time half of the entire population of one West Cork district, Eyries, left and went to live in Butte.

One of the pioneers of mining in Butte was Marcus Daly from Ballyjamesduff, Co. Cavan, and he gave preference to people of his own nationality in recruiting miners, which explains the prominence of Irish in Butte to this day.

I visited the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives, which provide a great deal of documentary material on the early life of Butte. I was shown a copy of the local newspaper from 1919 when Eamon de Valera, later President of Ireland, visited Butte as part of his year-long tour of the United States raising funds. He was greeted by an immense crowd.

European investment in Montana supports 5,500 jobs. Agriculture is still a very big employer, mainly in cattle, wheat and barley. In fact one of the biggest employers in the State is Aageson Farm in Gildford.

Portland, Oregon

Following my visit to Butte, I went to Portland in Oregon. It is the third most important port on the west coast of the US. About 30,000 jobs in Oregon are supported by investments from the European Union. Oregon has a large manufacturing sector and has been hit hard by the recent economic downturn. But the three biggest employers in the state are actually hospitals, which among them employ about 33,000 people. The healthcare sector is a huge employer in the United States, partly due to the fact that the US spends 16% of its GDP on healthcare, much more than any other developed country does. One person’s healthcare “cost” is another person’s well-paid job, hence the difficulty of healthcare reform.

I started my visit to Portland at a Pro-Bono Legal Services Clinic operated by Catholic Charities. Portland has a large immigrant population, both legal and illegal. The Clinic helps those who are open to exploitation because they are in the US illegally, and thus can be threatened with being reported to the authorities. Some undocumented immigrants are subjected to domestic servitude, others to physical abuse or to being denied wages they have earned. The Clinic provides such people with legal advice on how to assert their rights and how to regularize their legal situation.

Immigrants who send money home make a major contribution to their home economics. Denis Keenan of the Clinic described these remittances as the most efficient of all forms of foreign aid. But about 30% of what is sent home as remittances by immigrants is absorbed in transaction costs.

While in Portland, I spoke with the Portland Business Alliance and International Trade Association and met with the Oregonian newspaper’s editorial board. I met the All-Ireland Cultural Society.

I also was privileged to be brought by the US Forest Service to visit to Timberline Lodge, which is 6,000 feet above sea level on the slopes of the still snow-clad Mount Hood. The Lodge was built by the WPA [Works Progress Administration] during the 1930s, when unemployed craftsmen, sculptors and artists were given the opportunity under the New Deal to provide this magnificent tourist attraction, which now serves as a ski lodge, convention centre and hotel.

Oregon is one of the most forested states in the US and the Forest Service performs a vital rôle in the state’s life. Astoria in Oregon has one of the largest populations of Finnish origin in the United States.

Mayor Sam Adams and Portland’s “20-minute neighbourhoods”

I met Sam Adams, the Mayor of Portland, who told about the city’s Climate Action Plan. Portland has already brought its carbon emissions to 1% below its 1990 levels.

He stressed to me that creating a sustainable city environment did not necessitate donning a hair shirt. Already Portlanders were using their cars 20% less than is the case in other US cities and this was saving residents $800 million per year. This had been achieved thanks to long-established policies to reduce urban sprawl, dating back to a 1973 law on land use, and to measures in the 1990s to concentrate housing close to public transport routes. Portland had a Carbon Dioxide Reduction Strategy as far back as 1993 before most other places in the world had woken up to the problem.

Mayor Sam Adams told me that the goal of city policy now is to create “20 minute neighbourhoods,” meaning that people living in those neighbourhoods can comfortably fulfil all their daily needs (school, shopping, library, etc.) within a 20-minute walk or bike ride from their home. The next goal is by 2030 to reduce vehicle miles travelled by Portlanders to 30% below their present level.

Recycling waste is also an important part of the strategy, as landfill contributes to global warming through methane emission. Portland’s recycling rate is 64%, almost twice the US average of 33%.

Please send me your comments about this or any of my weekly messages or other EU matters. I look forward to hearing from you!