Support the Deep Dive into the CFAC Cleanup Plan

I was pleased to learn that the Federal EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is providing funding to help our community take a deeper look in to really understand and raise meaningful questions about the proposed leave-the-toxic-waste-in-place cleanup plan for the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company (CFAC) Superfund site. Kudos to the Coalition for a Clean CFAC for leading this effort and for their plans to hold community meetings in August, September, and October to share and discuss what they are finding. CFAC and their consultants had five or more years to draft this plan, which was only released a year ago with a brief time for public comment. It is vitally important that we, the public, have time to understand this plan and get the input from some independent consultants. While I appreciate recent meetings that CFAC has held to answer the community’s questions, I want to hear more than CFAC’s general response that our experts think this is the best plan. 

I want to hear from independent consultants and community members taking time to study these plans in more depth than most of us have time for, and I plan to attend their upcoming meetings to learn more. Thanks EPA and the Coalition for a Clean CFAC for your important work.

I was deeply disappointed to learn that our elected Flathead County Commission (with only one day notice on 7/16) and Columbia Falls City Council (with no public notice on their city agenda 7/15) voted at the end of their meetings to reverse their earlier support of this pause in the decision-makingand sent letters to the EPA urging them to finalize their cleanup plans now. 

I think if either local government had asked for public comment, they would have been flooded with comments asking that they continue to support this additional study and review of the cleanup plan. Please join me in emailing EPA and thanking them for their funding and ask that they give us more time to study and understand what is being proposed and possible other solutions. Send your comments to [email protected].

Rachel Potter
Columbia Falls