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of that stu went,” Shepard said.
Original plans were to build the plant along Rose
Crossing in Kalispell. Instead the property near the base of Teakettle Mountain, with its proximity to Hun- gry Horse Dam, was deemed better. For industrial devel- opments in the pre-EPA era, environmental regulations were loose and consideration for impacts to ecologi- cal sources, such as a major river like the Flathead, was mostly disregarded. The harmful e ects of sources such as asbestos, widely used in construction projects for decades, were also all but unknown at the time.
Spent pot liners containing hazardous materials were stored in unlined repositories as early as 1955, accord- ing to the Montana Department of Environmental Qual- ity. In 1980, the site was registered as a “large quantity hazardous waste generator and transporter.” Four years later, o cials from the Montana Department of Health and Sciences conducted a preliminary site assessment that found further evidence that the plant was gener- ating hazardous waste. In 1989, the site was placed on the DEQ Hazardous Waste Program list, and in 1993 the DEQ required a groundwater investigation to determine sources of cyanide in the Flathead River.
Sediment samples collected from the Flathead River and surface water samples collected from Cedar Creek, which runs below ground through the CFAC site and downtown Columbia Falls before surfacing south of town, show the two water bodies have received contam- inants, including metals, and cyanide.
The EPA does not have any data indicating the city’s water supply is a ected. The agency sampled residential wells near CFAC on three occasions and initially found contaminants. During the rst round of sampling in 2013, cyanide was detected in two wells, although the concentrations were below the agency’s recommended level. Further sampling of 30 other wells over the fol- lowing year determined there was no further cyanide or other contaminants above risk-based benchmarks.
An on-site assessment detected various metals,
cyanide and uoride in groundwater down gradient from three source areas. These contaminants were found at levels above allowable limits established through the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks o cials have raised concerns about negative impacts on wildlife and habitat in the area.
The Flathead River supports a robust sh population, including the federally threatened bull trout and a state species of concern, the westslope cutthroat trout. FWP o cials say the area around CFAC is also home to a diverse wildlife population, including deer, elk, bears, wolverines, bobcats, furbearers and birds, such as bald eagles.
Je Hagener, FWP chief, said in a letter to the EPA that there is ample evidence of contaminants emitted from the smelter over the years.
These identi ed contaminants “are likely to have lethal and sub-lethal e ects (on aquatic species),” he said. “These could impact respiration, liver function, and metabolism in sh, in turn causing reductions in growth and survival. The contaminants present may also have serious human health implications for those consuming sh from these waters.”
FWP has similar concerns about human consumption of wildlife from CFAC property and surrounding lands.
“Public hunting occurs in and around the CFAC site and hunters routinely harvest deer and elk in the area,” Hagener said.
He added, “If the contaminants pose a risk to wild- life or human health, we recommend that deer and elk be tested to insure they are safe for human consumption and that the deer and elk populations are not adversely impacted from contaminant exposure.”
CFAC o cials tested residential wells on two occa- sions in 2015. There were no detections of cyanide while two wells had levels of uoride that were slightly above the accepted benchmark but well below drinking water standards, according to the company.
The EPA has said it is uncertain of the full extent of
contamination or whether hazardous materials are migrating away from the site.
“The question is at what point will it be leaching into the river, if it’s not already leaching into the Flathead River?” Shepard said.
In the meantime, crews have been dismantling and demolishing everything above ground at the large prop- erty that has sat idle for nearly seven years. Mountains of scrap metal and other material, including over 499,000 pounds of asbestos waste, have been shipped o site by truck and train.
Up next is the towering paste plant, known as the Black Castle among those who worked inside making briquettes out of coal tar, emerging painted in dark soot like the building itself. A large piece of machinery reaching nearly 100 feet in the air is en route with a shear that will raze the dark structure over the next two months.
After that the largest single building in Montana — a 1.75 million-square-foot behemoth 40 acres in size — will disappear piece by piece, along with the 451 alumi- num reduction cells that sit inside, each weighing 60 tons apiece and lled with toxic chemicals.
Shepard and other former workers have asked if they could be on-site to watch the Black Castle come down.
“I’d like to stand there and take some pictures,” he said.
There are plenty of good memories. Yet a lingering sense of regret also hangs in the air.
“I lay at bed at night wondering if there is something we could’ve done or I could’ve done di erently,” Shep- ard said.
It doesn’t matter now; what’s done is done.
“I would just assume the cleanup gets done sooner than later. If it takes Superfund, let’s get it announced, go through the hysteria and get on with it. If it’s the alter- native, let’s get on with it,” Shepard said. “The important thing is getting this thing cleaned up as soon and as fast as we can.”
dtabish@ atheadbeacon.com
FEBRUARY 24, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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