EPA won’t clean up old town dumps

While the cleanup plan for the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. continues, there’s still an old dump that won’t get cleaned up in the Superfund process — a town dump that once served residents of the city and other folks that lived in the Columbia Falls area.

Longtime residents the Hungry Horse News spoke to remember there being a trench dug in the ground. People would pull up and throw their garbage into it.

The dump was approved after a meeting by the Anaconda Aluminum Co., Flathead County and the Columbia Falls city council, according to a Nov. 17, 1972 story in the Hungry Horse News.

The dump was located about a mile north of the city limits to the east of the North Fork Road. It is unknown how long the dump actually operated. The 1972 story said AAC would lease the 15 acres to the county for $25 a year.

EPA officials told the Hungry Horse News that they had not investigated the old municipal dump because it was outside of the Superfund boundary. The Superfund site includes massive landfills near the former plant — all told about 960 acres.

But the municipal landfill is outside the boundaries of the Superfund investigation. CFAC owns about 3,000 acres total in the area — much of it woodland.

The Hungry Horse News fled a records request with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality on the old dump — they said they had nothing. It also inquired with the county — but Public Works Director Dave Prunty had no knowledge of it. But noted that back in the day, there were dumps in numerous locations across the county.

Even in 1972, it seems that the area was already being used as a dump, as the story notes that garbage was already being dumped there or at least in the area.

Locals recall the site was close to the North Fork Road — in a dip that still exists today just north of the Bonneville Power Administration powerlines.

Townspeople at the time wanted a dump site that was closer to Columbia Falls so they didn’t have to drive 30 miles to Kalispell dump their trash.

Local resident Loyal Chubb indicated he was interested in operating the site, since he owned a bulldozer and other heavy equipment.

The 1972 story aside, the North Fork was a dumping ground for residents well before that.

A Missoulian story from 1954, found by local historian Norm Olson, found the city wanting to move its dump 3 miles up the North Fork on a grant of land by the Flathead National Forest.

Another Missoulian story — this one from 1957 — found by Olson noted the city did, indeed, move its dump up the North Fork. That story noted that city leaders wanted the visibility of the approach road improved.

It is important to note that the dump — or dumps — as the case may be, a withinin the city limits and never have been. Also, there aren’t many people living near them, as CFAC owns the surrounding property.

But at some point the dump may have to be addressed, as city leaders cite the area as a place for possible future housing developments, provided that CFAC and its parent company Glencore — decide to sell the land.