City joins county in urging CFAC cleanup plan release

By CHRIS PETERSON

Hungry Horse News

The Columbia Falls City Council voted 5-1 on last week to send a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency urging it to release a record of decision on the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. Superfund cleanup.

For at least 30 years, the site has been leaching cyanide and fluoride into the groundwater at the defunct plant. While contamination is well above safe drinking water levels in test wells, none of the waste, to date, has reached the Flathead River or nearby home water wells. 

“While we understand community concerns over the ‘leave in place’ recommendation for a portion of the contaminated materials, we would like to see the Record of Decision issued so final engineering and actual clean up can commence,” the letter reads. “The city Council recognizes that without the issuance of the ROD, there is no clean up activity at all; all clean-up work at the site is halted. The City Council, on behalf of the community, continues to express their desire to see the site cleaned up. We appreciate the additional steps that the EPA, with the utilization of Skeo Solutions, has completed to hold public meetings to inform the public on the process and findings to date as well as the ROD process. 

“The City’s stated concern has always been that of providing safe, clean drinking water to our community while cleaning up the site as well as the impacts in the residential areas just outside the city, such as Aluminum City. We do not believe that a do nothing approach is in the best interest of the community.” 

The reference to Skeo Solutions is when consultants from the company met with city officials and the public to offer its advice on the cleanup plan. When they first met with the public and city officials last July, they thought the “waste in place” plan had merit, but needed some modifications to keep surface and groundwater away from it. 

At Monday’s meeting, members of the Coalition for the Clean CFAC, a local group that says it’s taking a “deep dive” into the cleanup plan, with help from Skeo, again, wanted the city to postpone sending the letter a few more months. 

“This isn’t going to set things back, in fact it may enhance and streamline the process going forward,” claimed Mayre Flowers in her pleadings to council. 

But Mayor Don Barnhart said he’s sat through countless meetings with the EPA , the company and the state Department of Environmental Quality over the years. He noted it was the city that got the initial ball rolling back in 2015 to put the plant on the Superfund list. 

Barnhart noted that the Superfund process has followed the EPA’s rules and were “checked, double checked and triple checked.” 

He noted the EPA had weighed its options on the cleanup, from hauling  the waste away to containing it on site with a massive slurry wall, bolstered by monitoring wells and, if necessary, a water treatment facility. 

“I wanted it hauled away, until I got the information (on the slurry wall). Once I got the information, I actually trust those scientists...” Barnhart said. 

Hauling the waste away to an approved landfill in Oregon would take several years and cost between $624 million and $1.4 billion, the EPA estimated. 

It would also result in a large hole on the site. 

The slurry wall containment, which ranked the highest on the EPA’s feasibility study for cleaning up the site, would cost about $57 million. 

Councilmembers also expressed skepticism that the letter would have much impact on the EPA’s decision to release the record of decision anyway. 

They noted the Coalition for a Clean CFAC had 2,000 signatures on a petition asking for the EPA to pause any decision on the cleanup plan until they can further analyze it, which amounted to more clout than the city council. 

The Coalition has also recently met with KC Becker, the regional administrator of the EPA, something city leaders have never been afforded an opportunity to do, Barnhart noted. 

Councilwoman Kathy Price was the lone “no” vote on the letter. 

“We have to remember we are the voice of the people,” she said. 

The Coalition petition reads, in part, “We ask the EPA and DEQ to require an independent cost analysis be done to evaluate the permanence and long-term effectiveness of off-site removal. This is necessary to ensure the cleanup truly protects our water, our health, our community, and our economy. 

“CFAC and ARCO, and early on Anaconda Co., made many millions of dollars operating this aluminum smelter from 1955-2009 and provided good jobs. 

“But the citizens of the Flathead watershed shouldn’t be left with their toxic mess. The site must be fully cleaned up and restored for future beneficial uses.”