EPA releases draft community involvement plan for CFAC site; latest test results due out soon
The Environmental Protection Agency released a draft community involvement plan last week that looks to keep the public in the loop as testing and other work continues at the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. plant Superfund site.
The plant operated from 1955 to 2009 and at one time was Columbia Falls’ largest employer. It was shuttered permanently in 2015 and was declared a Superfund site in 2016.
The greatest concern to date with the site is cyanide that’s been found in groundwater downstream from landfills that are north of the plant. Cyanide has been a concern at the site since at least the 1990s. To date, cyanide has not been found in private residential wells downstream from the plant.
The company is currently financing a $4 million remedial investigation of the site, overseen by the EPA.
Last fall the company drilled 44 new test water wells, did more than 90 soil borings, tested surface water in nearby creeks, ponds and the Flathead River and did other environmental tests.
The first round of results from those tests are expected to be out this week or next, according to project manager Mike Cirian.
The community involvement plan is pretty much a blueprint as to how the EPA plans on keeping the public informed.
In the draft, the EPA considered forming a community advisory group, but it noted that the company, prior to Superfund listing, had already set up a similar panel.
After interviewing community leaders, the EPA, at least to date, has decided not to set up another panel, to avoid confusion.
The EPA has set up a website at www.epa.gov/superfund/columbia-falls where technical documents and other information is posted on the site.
Even after the remedial investigation, the actual cleanup could take years after that and the company strongly hinted in a meeting last year that it doesn’t feel it’s the only party responsible for contamination at the site.
ARCO, which is now owned by giant British Petroleum, once owned the plant as well. Tracking down what the EPA calls “potentially responsible parties” can be a long and involved and sometimes litigious process.
Meanwhile, and separately from the actual Superfund cleanup, Calbag resources continues to work on demolition of the plant, which was once the largest building in Montana. It has had significant asbestos contamination, some of which has to be sealed on specialized trucks and shipped to an approved landfill.
As of March 8, more than 1,192 million pounds of asbestos material has been removed from the site during demolition.
Between 35 and 70 people are working to demolish the plant.
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality also has a web site that gives updates on the plant demolition and other news. It’s at: http://deq.mt.gov/DEQAdmin/CFAC