Flathead County Commissioners wrote to the Environmental Protection Agency in mid-February asking the agency to take another look at its plan to leave waste from the former Columbia Falls Aluminum Company site buried in the ground.
The Coalition for a Clean CFAC echoed those comments.
Peter Metcalf is a member of the coalition’s steering committee and researcher of the Flathead Lake Biological Station.
“We're concerned that it will have to be maintained in perpetuity and we're unclear who's going to pay for that, especially if there is a failure down the road,” Metcalf says.
A third-party consultant hired by the former aluminum company conducted the cleanup feasibility study.
The county and coalition group argues that the consultant didn't thoroughly assess all options and neglected possible complete waste removal. They worry about long-term contamination spreading into the Flathead Valley watershed.
However, regional EPA officials say both EPA and the state agencies provided strong oversight throughout the study. EPA's Remedial Project Manager Matthew Dorrington says the possibility of an off-site cleanup is impractical.
“You're talking about removing waste that when exposed to air in the presence of water generates toxic and explosive gasses, which poses risks to workers and removing the waste. The waste itself, we're talking about 1.2 million cubic yards, which is significant.”
The CFAC plant operated from 1955 to 2009, generating large amounts of spent potliner, a hazardous waste containing cyanide compounds.
Last year the EPA proposed its cleanup plan for the Superfund site and is now reviewing the public comments.
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Regulators plan public meetings on Columbia Falls Aluminum cleanup. Governor extends the window for veterans and low-income homeowners to apply for tax assistance. Land trust announces preservation of 122 acres east of the National Bison Range. -
Montana legislators are urging Congress to help fund a program to extract rare earth minerals from the contaminated waters of Butte’s Berkeley Pit. The Environmental Quality Council is penning a letter asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to hold off on approving a clean-up plan for a superfund site in Columbia Falls. -
U.S. environmental regulators said containing toxic waste at a former aluminum smelter in Columbia Falls remains the best plan to protect the environment and human health. -
Columbia Falls residents are questioning a plan to clean up a former aluminum smelter. Residents say they want contaminants removed, not buried.
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Federal environmental regulators are extending the public comment period on a plan to clean up a defunct aluminum plant in Columbia Falls. -
A federal judge has ruled that a former owner of an aluminum smelter outside of Columbia Falls is partially responsible for the financial costs of cleaning up the hazardous waste at the site.
