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6 | APRIL 16, 2014 NEWS FLATHEADBEACON.COM

Environmental Protection Agency

READER Releases CFAC Site Study

POLL

FLATHEADBEACON.COM
Results show elevated

levels of metals on property
Do You Plan on Entering
a Running Race This Year?
By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Beacon

Oicials with the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency held a public meeting

April 15 to discuss the results of an envi-
ronmental assessment at the shuttered
Columbia Falls Aluminum Company
plant site.
Representatives from the EPA shared
the results of the study to inform the pub-
30% YES 70% NO lic about the agency’s environmental re-
mediation programs, as well as to discuss
TOTAL VOTES: 117
potential next steps and the future of the
plant, which has been closed since 2009.
Should the Federal Minimum The data are meant to inform govern-
Wage be Raised to $10.10 Per ment oicials, residents and other stake-
holders as the fate of the site remains in
Hour?
limbo.
The site assessment began last year

at the behest of U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-
Mont., and former U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, Columbia Falls Aluminum Company. BEACON FILE PHOTO
in an efort to determine whether a Super-
fund designation is warranted at the CFAC sludge pond area, the north percolation facility in October 2009, citing metal mar-
plant.
pond and the south percolation pond – and ket conditions and electricity prices. Tes-
According to EPA site assessment in September 2013 collected samples of ter and Baucus had worked with Glencore
manager Rob Parker, the study did not groundwater, surface water, sediment and and Bonneville Power Administration to
47% YES 53% NO conclude whether the smelter site should surface soils. The results are detailed in a negotiate a power deal to reopen the plant,

TOTAL VOTES: 169
be torn down or cleaned up, but data show- 271-page report.
but Tester said publicly at the time that
ing elevated levels of metals means the site “Analytical results indicate groundwa- Glencore had been stringing him along,
is technically eligible for placement on the ter samples down-gradient of these sourc- and that he doubted the company had
federal Superfund’s National Priority List.
es have above-background concentrations plans to ire up the smelter again.
Should NCAA Student The lawmakers called on the EPA to of metals, including cyanide, as well as lu- In a March 26 letter to Tester, Howard
Athletes be Paid?
study whether contamination levels at the oride,” according to the report.
Cantor, then the acting administrator for
aluminum plant pose a risk to the commu- The study also included sampling of the EPA’s Region 8, said the site was a pri-
nity and potential future businesses.
nearby residential wells, in which cya- ority for the EPA.

The senators noted that a Superfund nide was detected at concentrations be- Cantor noted in his letter that the EPA
designation would create cleanup jobs low EPA’s maximum contaminant level previously conducted a preliminary as-
and open up new business opportunities and the Montana Department of Environ- sessment and site inspection in 1986 and
at the 120-acre industrial site. They cited mental Quality’s water quality standards, 1988, but agreed that site conditions “have
potential concerns over cyanide, zinc and meaning the levels are too low to warrant likely changed” since then and it would
polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, and ordering residents not to drink it.
be appropriate to conduct a reassessment
29YES 71NO speciically asked for the EPA to “assess Sample results from the Flathead Riv- with current protocols.
% %
TOTAL VOTES: 154
the risks posed by the solvent landills and er indicated elevated concentrations of cy- Find more information or read the re-
percolation ponds.”
anide, luoride and manganese, while sam- port online at http://www2.epa.gov/re-
EPA oicials identiied three sources ple results from Cedar Creek indicated el- gion8/columbia-falls-aluminum-reduc-
with a high potential to cause environ- evated levels of metals, including cyanide.
tion-plant.
ONLINE POLL RESULTS ARE NOT SCIENTIFIC
mental contamination – the landill and
The plant’s owner, Glencore, closed the
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