I have been watching the events around the Columbia Falls Aluminum Plant unfold with great concern. The issue hits right at home, as I am raising my two boys just outside of Columbia Falls, and have worked as a university researcher on water quality and rivers for over a decade. To me, the best solution to the CFAC issue is a cleaned up site, and a thriving Columbia Falls community. Those go hand-in-hand, and the EPA is the best ally we have to hold Glencore, and the other responsible parties, accountable for cleaning up the property.
I understand the fear of a Superfund Site label, but I am far more afraid that trusting the company, and dismissing the EPA, will leave Columbia Falls abandoned, polluted, and broke. Western Montana is full of abandoned mines where somebody extracted wealth and disappeared, leaving the polluted site in taxpayers’ hands. We should work with the EPA and DEQ to understand just how contaminated the CFAC site is, and the fate of the pollutants in the river, the fish, wildlife, and soil. Right now, we don’t know how much damage has been done, or how much it will cost to clean up. I hear folks talk about wanting to hurry up and get things cleaned up. Do we want a “quick and dirty” cleanup or a quality effort overseen by the experts? It took more than half a century to pollute the CFAC site, and it is incredibly hard to clean up pollutants that have leached underground, into groundwater, and into streams and rivers.
The reason none of the Superfund Sites in Montana are off the list is because they have to be cleaned up to be delisted, and It takes decades or more to clean up contaminated sites. It is not the fault of the EPA that the sites aren’t off the list, it is the fault of the companies that opened up shop, made their money, and left behind a legacy of contamination. I recall that Columbia Falls asked Sen. Jon Tester to help bring in the EPA after Glencore walked away from talks with the city, and then again with Montana DEQ. The EPA is Columbia Falls’ insurance policy and the best defense this community has against being taken advantage of by an international corporation.
In Superfund communities that EPA is active in, I hear about thriving economies, major tourist attractions, revitalized sites with cleaner industry, community infrastructure and jobs. Has the Superfund Site in Whitefish harmed property values there? No. It is not the stigma of Superfund that will hurt Columbia Falls. The stigma of a polluted, abandoned site, leaching into the Flathead River, forever, poses a much greater risk than Superfund status.
For the future of Columbia Falls, I hope we don’t miss this important opportunity for the city council, the commissioners and our congressional representatives, to partner with the EPA, the state of Montana and the responsible parties to make a clean and prosperous future for the old aluminum plant site.
Erin Sexton
Hungry Horse