Zinke's call for state oversight of CFAC won't happen anytime soon

Congressman Ryan Zinke’s call for the state to oversee cleanup of the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. site won’t happen anytime soon, although the state still has a say in how it’s being done.

Zinke, a Republican, has called for state oversight as a way to streamline the cleanup process. He opposes Superfund listing of the site.

But CFAC and its parent company Glencore, are already tied to the Environmental Protection Agency for at the least the next four years or so, as the company entered an administrative order on consent for a remedial investigation and feasibility study. 

That study is ultimately designed to come up with the best way to clean up the site and make it a viable property for a future business.

The consent order is a binding contract between the company and the EPA.

“We’re locked in with the EPA,” said John Stroiazzo, an engineer with Glencore overseeing the cleanup.

Stroiazzo noted last week that the DEQ does attend all the meetings on the parameters of the feasibility study. But the company agrees with Zinke that it should not be listed as a Superfund site, Stroiazzo said.

For its part, the DEQ notes it did try to negotiate with CFAC from the onset. Now it’s working with the EPA.

“Initially CFAC said they wanted to move the cleanup along faster so the state offered to negotiate a consent order,” Kristi Ponozzo, DEQ’s public policy director said Monday. “DEQ must make sure that the cleanup is done correctly, and that it is protective. To do this, DEQ must retain certain authorities. CFAC was not in agreement with that and they broke off negotiations.

“Now DEQ supports EPA in moving forward using federal authority to ensure all necessary work will occur. Superfund listing is the strongest guarantee the site will be cleaned up.”

A Superfund decision is expected by the EPA this fall.

There’s plenty of work to be done before a cleanup will begin anyway. 

Next month 43 test wells are set to go in, along with hundreds of soils samples and surface water samples.

Of particular interest are hot spots just outside the north end of the plant where old landfills and percolation ponds were located. 

Initial testing there indicates cyanide concentrations in groundwater that are above 730 micrograms per liter, according to the work plan for the study. That’s more than three times the state standard for safe drinking water of 200 micrograms per liter.

The plan was done by Roux Associates, an environmental firm working for the company. 

The work plan notes that cyanide pollution at the site has been an issue for decades. There has been a known cyanide seep into the Flathead River for more than 20 years. Having said that, the concentrations appear to be quite low. A test done to see the toxicity of the water on fish was completed in 2014.

In that test, water from the polluted seeps was exposed to two different types of fish species. Both survived.

But further tests on the river, Cedar Creek and the Cedar Creek overflow, which runs past some of the landfills, will commence over the next few years.

EPA project manager Mike Cirian noted part of the feasibility study will also contain an environmental risk analysis, which will look to determine what, if any risks, the site poses to the natural environment.

In the preliminary data, the Roux work plan suggests, the cyanide seeps in the river have declined over time.