A week after U.S. Sen. Jon Tester called on the EPA’s new regional administrator to hold public listening sessions while in Montana this week, that administrator reported having taken steps in that direction.

“I’ve been EPA regional administrator for 14 days and the most productive days I’ve spent were the past four days in Montana,” Region 8 Administrator Doug Benevento said Thursday via email. “I would like to thank Gov. (Steve) Bullock, Sen. Tester, Sen. (Steve) Daines, Congressman (Greg) Gianforte and Attorney General (Tim) Fox for encouraging me to visit the different communities at which EPA is engaged across the state.”

Tester had urged Benevento to meet with Montanans in Butte, Anaconda, Libby and Columbia Falls to discuss the Environmental Protection Agency’s progress and address the distrust of the agency in these communities. In a letter to Benevento, Tester emphasized the importance of meeting with Montanans and underscored the need to fully hold corporations accountable for cleanup.

“It is critical that you gain firsthand knowledge of the unique challenges within each community so you can address them immediately,” Tester said. “Montana has too often slipped off your Agency’s radar, leaving Montanans to clean up the messes of big corporations. By visiting our state, you will see the resilience of our communities and the urgent need to defend our clean air and water, which are the backbone of our state’s economy.”

Tester demanded that Benevento move quicker to test lead levels in schools, increase transparency in consent decree negotiations, and strengthen public involvement in the EPA’s actions in Butte and Anaconda.

Tester also emphasized that the EPA must do more work in Libby as a result of pollution from vermiculite mines operated by W.R. Grace. Tester called on Benevento to sit down with families in Libby and do more to ensure W.R. Grace is held accountable for the full cost of the cleanup.

Tester also told Benevento in the letter that Glencore has misled the community of Columbia Falls regarding the cleanup of the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. site, which was listed as a Superfund site last year. Finally, Tester encouraged Benevento to meet with Columbia Falls leaders about the cleanup of the industrial site along the Flathead River.

Benevento, who visited Butte this week, thanked in his email the citizens and leaders of Butte “for taking the time to share with me their frustrations and aspirations for their community.”

“During my visit with them I committed EPA to moving quickly on that site to protect human health and the environment,” he wrote. “I will keep that commitment. I look forward to returning to Montana later in November to visit Anaconda and to conduct other business important to the people of Montana.”

Region 8 of the EPA consists of Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, North Dakota and South Dakota.