HELENA, Mont.—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a new administrator to oversee Montana’s 14 Superfund projects that are on a national priority list for environmental repair.
Joe Vranka was hired after 18 years with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, where his jobs included Superfund work and management of radiation programs. Vranka, 47, has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Montana’s Superfund priority list consists of an array of projects, including removal of the Missoula area’s Milltown Dam and contaminated sediment behind it. Each Superfund project has a manager.
The position held by Vranka became vacant in 2005. EPA’s Montana director, John Wardell, handled some of the work during the interim.
