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EPA Pushes Back CFAC Superfund Designation to Fall

Agency official said the EPA still considering the Superfund Alternative approach

By Dillon Tabish

The Environmental Protection Agency will wait until the fall of 2016 to decide whether to approve Superfund cleanup of the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company site, according to an agency official.

Less than a week after notifying community members that a possible decision could arrive in spring, Mike Cirian, a regional project manager for the EPA, told the Beacon on Tuesday that agency officials informed him that any action will now wait until fall.

“That’s the soonest any decision will be made,” he said.

The shuttered aluminum plant near Columbia Falls met the requirements to be added to the National Priorities List, which makes it eligible for long-term remedial cleanup under the federal Superfund program. The EPA designates Superfund sites twice a year, in spring and fall.

Cirian said the agency is still considering the Superfund Alternative approach, which uses the same investigation and cleanup process and standards that are used for sites listed on the NPL. The approach is an alternative to listing a site on the NPL; it is not an alternative to Superfund or the Superfund process, according to the EPA.

The potential Superfund listing has become a polarizing topic in a community grappling with how to clean up the 960-acre industrial site that has sat idle for years northeast of town and near the Flathead River. Tests have detected contaminants such as cyanide, fluoride and metals, such as arsenic, chromium, lead, and selenium at the site.

At a public meeting on Jan. 21, Cirian said a decision could surface as early as March. The news caught some community members off guard, and they expressed dismay at a looming Superfund cleanup project that could takes years and create a negative stigma for the town.

Cirian said the agency did not provide an explanation as to why it pushed back the decision date.

As the community awaits a decision about Superfund cleanup, demolition is underway at the site and the property’s owner, Glencore, is moving forward with a comprehensive investigation that will include drilling 43 sampling wells.

The investigation process is expected to take four to five years, starting with initial surveying in April followed by the drilling of 43 sampling wells from May through September, according to Stroiazzo. Groundwater sampling would begin in fall. EPA officials will provide oversight for CFAC’s investigation