Page 22 - Flathead Beacon // 4.1.15

22 | APRIL 1, 2015
NEWS
FLATHEADBEACON.COM
WHITEFISH
Continued from page 20
things that Whitefish is desperately pro- tective of is downtown, its tax base and the residential character of the High- way 93 corridor. So when you introduce change to those three things then you are going to get a lot of public interest.”
And while it’s improbable, Idaho Timber could spring back to life at any point, imposing a stronger industrial impact on the residential integrity of the neighborhoods than small scale, light manufacturing, said realtor and steer- ing committee member Hunter Homes, who represents the owner of the Idaho Timber property, which is zoned for in- dustrial use.
“The owners could put in a tire recy- cling plant or a pig farm if they wanted, but that is not the best use for that prop- erty. It needs to be rezoned,” Homes said. “Old timers hate to see progress. I got here in 1976 before McDonald’s opened here and when we heard McDon- ald’s was opening we thought Whitefish was going to go to hell in a hand basket. But it’s still a great place and it will con- tinue to progress, and it will continue to draw more and more people here.”
SUPERFUND
Continued from page 5
years trying to broker a deal that would allow the plant to reopen.
“It’s a bit Polyanna to think that this company is going to clean it up because every time I cut a deal they have turned it down,” Tester said at the meeting. “The EPA is seen as a boogie man,” Tester said, “but as long as [the contaminated prop- erty] sits in the condition that it’s in, it’s more of a black eye for this community.”
Pat Munday, a professor at Montana Tech in Butte, is a historian who for years studied the political and social dy- namics surrounding Superfund opera- tions. He said that although the program is imperfect and can lead to delays, it has been extremely effective at holding cor- porations accountable.
“The corporate stance is always that they don’t want Superfund involved be- cause they want the cheapest possible solutions,” Munday said. “You look at what happens when corporations do lead the cleanup and they are often far more guilty of delaying the process than the EPA. But once Superfund is involved there are pretty rigorous human health and environmental standards that kick in. It’s far from a perfect process and I have been critical of it in the past, but it is far better to have agency oversight than it is to allow and trust corporations to do it on their own.”
Munday said a national model of Superfund success sits in his backyard in Butte – a 27-mile stretch of the once toxic Silver Bow Creek that was used as a conduit for mining, smelting, industrial and municipal wastes for more than a century.
“Idaho Timber is a 15-acre artist’s palette that has not been developed. There hasn’t been a picture drawn yet but whatever you can think of has the potential to go in there,” Homes contin- ued. “There is no other property like this anywhere in Whitefish that has beauti- ful views of the mountains. It has 1,000 feet of river frontage. It would be a five- star op for Idaho Timber and for White- fish.”
Kaufman said the steering commit- tee represented a diverse cross section of Whitefish, and ultimately identified the Idaho Timber site and adjacent neigh- borhood as the best option to accommo- date growth in Whitefish at a scale that does not infringe on the community’s downtown or residential integrity.
“I think they are learning from the past and preparing for the future,” Kaufman said. “Can you, by looking at the community and the way it is emerg- ing, achieve a greater value in a way that allows entrepreneurs and businesses to grow and expand in a community that has a great quality of life, at a location next to a river, right next to downtown, next to a residential neighborhood, near police and emergency services and a li- brary? I don’t think you can.”
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After 16 years of cleanup, the site is nearing completion.
That Superfund project was funded with a cash-out from Atlantic Richfield Co. in 1998. That means ARCO gave the state $87 million to oversee the remedi- ation effort.
“This has been a superb cleanup. They have hauled away a tremendous amount of tailings, the stream was com- pletely rebuilt, the natural resources have been returned to full recreational use, and now they have a native cut- throat fishery. That’s pretty significant given how badly contaminated it was,” Munday said.
“Sure, there were delays,” he added. “But it takes 50 to 100 years to create these Superfund sites so it takes a fair amount of time and work to character- ize them so that you know what you’re dealing with.”
Munday also said the cleanup was a good demonstration of the polluter pays principle, as is the ongoing clean- up of the Whitefish River and Burling- ton Northern Railway site in Whitefish, where Zinke is from.
Regarding CFAC, EPA will first look to identify “Potentially Responsible Parties” who are liable for the cleanup effort. If the parties are unwilling to do the work under a legally binding agree- ment, EPA will look to other authorities, including completing the work and then recovering the costs from the responsi- ble parties through litigation.
Munday said in the case of CFAC, Glencore will have to foot the bill, not the taxpayers.
“Glencore is on the hook,” he said. “When you buy a company you buy the environmental liabilities associated with it.”
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