Weighs in on CFAC

I found part of Cheryl Driscoll’s comment on efforts by the Coalition For A Clean CFAC in your Aug. 30 article more than ironic.

As the lone employee in the phantasma called Columbia Falls Aluminum Co., a fiscal fiction created by global commodities giant Glencore, Driscoll criticized the work of “a handful of activists from outside Columbia Falls” in delaying the EPA’s record of decision for the Superfund site. But neither Driscoll, a resident of Connecticut, and Glencore, based in Switzerland, live anywhere near Columbia Falls. This is typical behavior by a company started by Marc Rich, a renegade metals trader nicknamed “Aluminumfinger,” and the man who taught the Russian oligarchs what they needed to know after the fall of the Soviet Union. 

On the other hand, Driscoll was correct in noting that the Coalition’s founding members weren’t much involved in the CFAC Superfund cleanup effort until eight years after public meetings began. As for consolidating all the hazardous waste in a specially constructed onsite landfill, the problem of digging up the West Landfill without killing or injuring the workers remains. If it’s possible to dig up the West Landfill and put the stuff in a new hole in the ground, why not just put it on trains and haul it to the correct landfill in Oregon? 

The Coalition’s suggestion might save Glencore a couple hundred million dollars, but who cares ­— they don’t live around here.

Richard Hanners

John Day, Oregon