CFAC will get Superfund designation, EPA announces

The Environmental Protection Agency Wednesday announced it is adding the defunct Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. smelter to the Superfund program’s National Priorities List.

The listing comes with divided support from Montana’s congressional delegation. Montana Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, has long supported a listing, while Congressman Ryan Zinke, a Republican, has opposed it.

“Glencore can no longer try and turn their back on families in Columbia Falls,” Tester said. “This decision guarantees that after seven years of broken promises and stonewalling, Glencore will finally be held accountable for the cleanup of CFAC. Today is a step in the right direction and I will continue to work with folks in Columbia Falls so we can strengthen the local economy, revitalize this site, and create jobs.”

The Superfund designation lends government assurances that the site will be cleaned up. Test wells have shown high concentrations of cyanide in groundwater at the site, though the deadly poison hasn’t been found in residential wells downstream from the plant.

Glencore is the parent company of CFAC, which owns the defunct aluminum smelter which has been shut down since 2009. There’s been tense relations between Tester and the company — Tester once lobbied for inexpensive power to keep the plant operating, only to be rebuffed by the company.

The company is already under contract with the EPA for a remedial investigation and feasibility study of the 900-plus acres of the site, which includes seven landfills. That work, which is guaranteed by a $4 million financial assurance from the company, is underway. The company just recently completed drilling a host of test wells and bored hundreds of soil samples.

That testing work and investigation will take about four years and an actual cleanup will take years after that.

Separately, Calbag Resources is tearing down the buildings and selling the scrap under contract with CFAC. That work has state Department of Environmental Quality oversight, and that’s what Zinke has advocated for cleanup of the rest of the site.

The company opposed the Superfund listing and was hoping for another avenue of cleanup called the Superfund Alternative Approach, which it claimed would have sped up the process. The approach holds the company to Superfund cleanup standards, without the actual listing.

“Needless to say, we are disappointed and believe listing the site is not in the best interest of the project or the community,” said John Stroiazzo, CFAC project manager. “The Superfund process does not benefit the project at this time and changes nothing during the remedial investigation and feasibility study ... CFAC believes that if the site had been addressed under the (Superfund alternative), it would have enhanced the opportunities to redevelop the site in a much faster timeframe and allow it to contribute to the local economy.”

Zinke has opposed the Superfund designation because of the perceived stigma of the listing. He also notes that few, if any, Superfund sites in Montana have come off the National Priorities List.

“I grew up in the Flathead. I know how vibrant the Columbia Falls community and economy can be. EPA bureaucracy in Washington, D.C., is betting against Columbia Falls and taking away our local control,” said Zinke. “I stand with county commissioners who say we need to hold the company accountable but we also need to retain our right to do what we see is fit for the land. Once communities are put on the National Priorities List as a Superfund site, they rarely come off. That stigma remains. It draws down property values and hinders investment and future economic development. For a community that just lost a hundred timber jobs, I don’t think that’s something we can afford. I’m very disappointed in the EPA’s decision and will be working with community leaders to figure out ways to revitalize the area and bring jobs back to the Flathead.”

“This needed to be a community-led decision. I will maintain vigorous oversight of the EPA on this project,” said Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont.

Columbia Falls city leaders want the site cleaned up and if it requires a Superfund designation, then so be it. They claimed that without federal oversight, CFAC could walk away from the project. The company left the plant idle for years and did nothing. It wasn’t until Tester’s office put pressure on the company that even talk of a cleanup was considered.

County Commissioner Phil Mitchell has been against a Superfund designation. The CFAC plant is outside the city limits.

“There’s no need to do this at this time. Glencore has completely funded all cleanup work for two years,” Mitchell said. “The EPA negated all the cooperation to date, and essentially said big government knows best.”

But others thought the cleanup is necessary under Superfund.

“The EPA has announced its final decision on our shuttered aluminum plant. I, for one, laud it. This plant is located in the county, not Columbia Falls, but the location of the problem materials that are buried jeopardizes the whole river and well system. Columbia Falls City Council led the way on asking Sen. Tester for his help and we are thankful he has stepped up. Now because of this listing, we will grow stronger and create more jobs in the region,” Columbia Falls city councilman Mike Shepard said.

The city’s water wells are downstream from the plant.

EPA project manager Mike Cirian said from a project standpoint, not much changes on the ground. The testing will continue, but with Superfund listing, there are now financial assurances from the federal government that the site will get cleaned up, with CFAC support, or not.