Glencore permanently closes CFAC site

A spokesman for the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. announced March 3 that the smelter plant will be permanently closed and demolition of some buildings at the site could take place as part of the closure.

“After more than five years of complete production curtailment, CFAC has made the decision to move on to the next phase of managing the property,” Haley Beaudry said in a press release.

The aluminum smelter was operated by four owners since it first starting making metal in 1955. Glencore, a Swiss-based multi-billion dollar global commodities trading company, purchased the plant in 1999.

The plant ran in various stages of partial or complete shut-down under Glencore ownership for the next decade. The plant has been completely idle since 2009.

“Market forces, including raw materials costs, worldwide competition from more modern facilities and continuing depressed aluminum prices have combined to force CFAC to make the hard decision to permanently close the operation,” Beaudry said.

Beaudry also highlighted the benefits to the local economy of having the smelter site cleaned up.

“While this decision marks the end of aluminum production in Montana, it also paves the way for the possibility of finding alternative uses for the strategic property,” he said. “The decision by CFAC to permanently close was a difficult one, but after deep consideration, management is confident it is in the best interests of the community. This is the next step in making the property productive once again, and CFAC remains open and committed to procuring redevelopment interest.”

Sen. Jon Tester, who worked hard trying to get power contracts for CFAC from the Bonneville Power Administration in order to keep the smelter running, reacted to the news of the permanent closure.

"Glencore spent years stringing the community of Columbia Falls along about the future of CFAC, and today it finally cut the strings," Tester said. "Now it’s time to clean up the site, ensure CFAC workers are treated fairly and use the area to invest in the future of Columbia Falls."

Cleanup talks between Glencore and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality ended last August, and Gov. Steve Bullock recently wrote to the Environmental Protection Agency asking that the site be placed on the federal Superfund’s National Priority List for cleanup.

CFAC spokesmen have relayed Glencore’s strong opposition to having the smelter site placed on the Superfund list.

In a press release issued last week, Beaudry warned that the listing “will unnecessarily slow the cleanup process and any future redevelopment” of the plant site. He explained that CFAC wrote to Bullock about their concerns and to express their willingness to assess the site.

The letter to Bullock was sent by CFAC corporate secretary Cheryl Driscoll on Dec. 12, 2014. Driscoll is based in Stamford, Ct., Beaudry said.

“While we understand the interest that some at the Montana Department of Environmental Quality may have in the access to federal cleanup funds that listing the site on the NPL may provide, we believe such a listing is an unnecessary bureaucratic step that will delay the cleanup of the site and could limit economic development in the Flathead Valley,” she told Bullock.

Driscoll said that over 31 years, the EPA has placed 18 sites in Montana on the National Priorities List and none have been removed.

“Some of the sites have been on the list for the entire 31 years,” she said.

Driscoll also called the listing “an unnecessary bureaucratic step that will delay the cleanup of the site and could limit economic development in the Flathead Valley” by stigmatizing the former smelter site.

She said CFAC was “ready, willing and able to begin the site assessment now” and had hired a qualified contractor, Roux Associates, to develop a remedial investigation work plan.

Driscoll also said CFAC talked with the EPA about entering into an administrative order of consent with EPA and the state of Montana to perform the site assessment.

“There is no need to engage in the additional step of listing the site on the NPL,” she said.

For the complete text of Beaudry’s and Driscoll’s letters, see the opinion section of the Hungry Horse News Web site.