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.
A community group has pushed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to remove all contaminated soil from the site.
The EPA responded in a letter saying that removing waste from the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company superfund site would expose workers to hazards like cyanide gas.
Officials said it would take up to five years and thousands of trucks and trains to transport contaminated soil 500 miles to a certified landfill in Oregon.
They said that would expose other communities along the way.
The EPA said hauling the waste away would cost between $624 million to $1.4 billion.
The agency prefers to pour an underground concrete wall to contain the waste at the CFAC site. That plan will cost nearly $60 million.
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Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks hopes to buy nearly 800 acres of private forest lands along the Flathead River. The agency is holding a public meeting about the project on Aug. 26.
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Federal environmental regulators have released a list of options to clean up the former Columbia Falls Aluminum Company superfund site in northwest…
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Work to clean up two contaminated ponds bordering the Flathead River at the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company Superfund site was completed earlier this…
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Work to prevent harmful sediment from flowing into the Flathead River from a former aluminum plant will begin this fall. This is the first remediation…
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The Columbia Falls Aluminum Company says it’s started reimbursing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Friday for costs associated with assessing…
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Shannon Stringer has an opinion that’s not entirely popular in Columbia Falls.“I do. I've gotten into heated discussions with other people in the…