The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday formally proposed adding the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company plant to the National Priorities List, making it eligible for additional study and cleanup resources under EPA’s Superfund program.
The proposed listing will be subject to a 60-day public review and comment period beginning on March 26. Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the country’s most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites to protect public health and the environment.
The proposed Superfund site, located approximately two miles northeast of Columbia Falls, operated as a primary aluminum reduction facility between 1955 and 2009. Contaminants detected at the site include cyanide, fluoride and metals, including arsenic, chromium, lead, and selenium. These contaminants are present in soils, surface ponds, and groundwater at the site and pose a risk to nearby wells and the Flathead River. EPA and the State of Montana have determined that a comprehensive investigation of the site is necessary to inform effective cleanup actions to address these risks.
“EPA will continue to work closely with the local community, the state of Montana, and the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company to ensure a comprehensive investigation of the site is completed,” Shaun McGrath, EPA’s regional administrator in Denver, said in a statement. “These efforts will identify cleanup actions needed to address human health and environmental concerns and will advance the community’s interest in the redevelopment of this important property along the Flathead River.”
City officials and business leaders in Columbia Falls have publicly supported the addition of the site to the NPL. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and U.S. Sen. Jon Tester have also expressed their support for listing.
CFAC has expressed its opposition to the EPA’s Superfund designation, claiming that the listing would slow cleanup efforts and hinder redevelopment.
EPA will evaluate all public comments received on the proposed listing before making a final decision.
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the enactment of the Comprehensive Environmental, Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the law establishing the Superfund program. The Superfund law gives EPA the authority to clean up releases of hazardous substances with the goal of returning them to productive use.
The NPL contains the nation’s most serious uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites. The list serves as the basis for prioritizing both enforcement actions and long-term EPA Superfund cleanup funding; only sites on the NPL are eligible for such funding. A site’s listing neither imposes a financial obligation on the EPA nor assigns liability to any party.
There are 16 Superfund sites on the National Priorities List in Montana, including the W.R. Grace site in Lincoln County, which is the largest Superfund site in U.S. history.
For more information on the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company site visit http://www2.epa.gov/region8/columbia-falls-aluminum-reduction-plant