Glencore, DEQ in talks over CFAC remediation

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality and Glencore are still negotiating on how best to proceed with further testing and possible remediation of the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. site.

Jenny Chambers, the division administrator for the Montana DEQ’s Remediation Division, said last week the company that owns the smelter site north of Columbia Falls had responded to DEQ’s administrative order on consent — a legal order that details the company’s obligations for the next phase of a possible Superfund-type cleanup at the closed plant.

But Chambers wouldn’t comment on what the company’s response was or even indicate whether it was positive or negative. She said DEQ still had a lot of questions for company representatives, and those would be forthcoming in conference calls the agency has planned for later this month.

After those talks, Chambers said, the agency will “have a better idea of what direction we’re headed.”

Chambers said DEQ and representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency are making plans to hold a public meeting in early December to further inform residents about the negotiations, but a date and time hasn’t been set.

DEQ’s order, which was sent to the company in late July, cites sampling conducted by the EPA and the discovery of potentially hazardous materials in soil, sediment, groundwater and surface water at the plant site and cyanide contamination found in sediment in the Flathead River.

According to the draft order, Glencore must pay for sampling, testing, analysis and report writing and reimburse the state for any costs associated with the investigation. Failure to comply with the conditions of the draft order and meeting deadlines could result in penalties of $1,000 to as much as $10,000 per day. Glencore must also post a $5 million bond to ensure the remedial investigation work is completed.

The primary objective of a remedial investigation is to describe the extent of actual or potential releases of hazardous materials, to assess human health and ecological risks, develop site-specific cleanup levels, and evaluate alternative cleanup methods.

The plant began production in 1955 and went through several owners. Glencore acquired it in 1999 and shut it down in 2009. It has been shut down since then.

The site has several landfills, two leachate ponds, several fuel storage tanks and other ponds designed to collect various wastewater discharges from the plant, according to EPA documents. There is also an asbestos landfill on the site.

The greatest concern so far has been cyanide, which was found in a residential well outside the plant in concentrations above what is considered the safe threshold, according to an EPA analysis released last spring.