Page 24 - Flathead Beacon // 6.29.16

ROUNDUP
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HELENA
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BOZEMAN
COLUMBIA FALLS
1. Plan for CFAC Waste Removal Approved
The Montana Department of Envi- ronmental Quality announced on June 24 the approval of a plan to remove of 26,000 tons of hazardous waste from the shuttered Columbia Falls Aluminum Company. The plan authorizes Calbag Resources, CFAC’s demolition contrac- tor, to remove 451 pot liners that contain K088, a listed hazardous waste, from the Pot Room Building. The material will be transported to a chemical waste manage- ment facility in Arlington, Oregon.
“DEQ has worked diligently with Cal- bag to ensure the plan meets the require- ments of the Administrative Order on Consent, is protective, and includes proper nancial assurance,” said DEQ Deputy Director George Mathieus. “This site is a priority for DEQ and we will keep working with Calbag to ensure safe removal of hazardous waste continues.”
The industrial plant operated along the Flathead River from 1955 to 2009 and permanently closed in 2015. Since then, Glencore, CFAC’s parent company, has worked to create a plan to clean up the contaminated site, which quali es for the National Priorities list, a register of hazardous waste sites eligible for long- term remedial cleanup under the federal Superfund program. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to make a decision on the site’s Superfund status this fall.
MISSOULA
2. New Forest Service Fire Chief
Takes Post as Season Heats Up
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MISSOULA
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The U.S. Forest Service’s new re chief for the region that includes Montana has taken his post just as the re season is heating up in the West.
Ralph Rau was previously the dep- uty forest supervisor for Idaho’s Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest. The Missoulian reports he became the For- est Service’s Region 1 re and aviation manager based in Missoula earlier this month.
He will oversee re ghting over
39,000 square miles in Montana, North Dakota and parts of Idaho and South Dakota.
Rau served four years in the Marine Corps and has spent 33 years with the Forest Service.
Rau says re activity is already picking up in the eastern part of the region, and all of the Hotshot crews are committed.
Fire forecasters are predicting an average re season for the Northern Rockies.
MISSOULA
3. Long-Missing Montana Soldier
Finally Buried in Virginia
After 48 years, the remains of a long-missing Vietnam War veteran are being laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
The Missoulian reports that Army Sgt. 1st Class Alan Boyer was buried on last week by his sister, Judi Bouchard, of Florida. Both Bouchard and Boyer moved from Illinois to attend the University of Montana in the 1960s before Boyer left to join the Army.
Boyer disappeared in March 1968 during a classi ed reconnaissance mis- sion in Laos. On March 7 of this year, the Army called Bouchard to tell her remains recovered in that country had been iden- ti ed as Boyer.
Boyer’s remains arrived in Washing- ton, D.C. last week and was met by a color guard. He was buried Wednesday with an Army marching band and a riderless horse, a high military honor.
HELENA
4. Montana Takes Aim at Surging
Jail, Prison Populations
Montana’s overcrowded jails and pris- ons are prompting state o cials to take a serious look at the complex issues behind the rising number of arrests, recidivism and policies that may be responsible for a surge in incarcerations.
With Montana’s prisons already over capacity, the state may have to invest tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dol- lars to expand capacity if the prison pipe- linecontinuesunabated.
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JUNE 29, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM