Zinke attracts crowd at town-hall meeting

The proposed Superfund listing for the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. was the only bump in the road for U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., during his town-hall meeting at Flathead Valley Community College on Wednesday.

After about 45 minutes of generally supportive questions and comments, Zinke fielded a final question from Stacey Schnebel, president of the Columbia Falls Chamber of Commerce.

Referring to letters opposing the proposed National Priorities List designation for CFAC that Zinke sent to Gov. Steve Bullock and the Environmental Protection Agency, Schnebel said, “it seemed to us that you had the best interests of [CFAC parent company] Glencore in mind.”

Zinke responded that his goal is to get the property cleaned up as quickly as possible and reiterated his point that none of the 18 Superfund sites in Montana have been delisted.

“But they are being used for other purposes,” Schnebel responded, adding that delisting isn’t necessary for economic development to move forward. “We don’t have a lot of faith in Glencore.”

Zinke responded that he wants to hold the company accountable for the cleanup, but believes the Superfund process will unnecessarily delay a potential boon for the area, given the unique advantages of the industrial site northeast of Columbia Falls.

Admitting that a government agency needs to be involved to put pressure on the company, he said the state would be the best entity to handle that task. However, Glencore walked away from discussions with the state last December after refusing to relinquish certain authority over the cleanup process.

“I would be willing to spend my time [restarting the talks],” Zinke said afterward. “But what I ask is that the people at the table don’t come in with an agenda.

Addressing another move that drew local reaction, Zinke defended his initial vote against funding for Amtrak, calling it a “shot across the bow” to get the agency’s attention. It worked, he said, and Amtrak officials called him up the next day.

“When does Amtrak come through Whitefish, and go through two of the most beautiful parks in North America? At night,” Zinke said. “That railway was put in there because tourism matters. It matters to the Flathead Valley.”

The freshman representative from Whitefish led the meeting off by summarizing his positions on issues on which he has been working, particularly Middle East policy. When it comes to the Islamic State, Zinke said he believed boots on the ground would be necessary to defeat the organization, citing testimony of high-ranking military officials that airstrikes alone would be insufficient.

“It will take our sons and daughters to embed with the Kurdish forces, and with selected tribes, and you can’t just embed one or two ... when you embed you have to embed sufficient force,” said Zinke, a retired Navy SEAL commander.

He added that a ground offensive would need to include Medevac, a quick reaction force and supplying allied Kurdish forces with ammunition, logistical aid, food and medical supplies.

Linking the issue with the ongoing talks between the Obama administration and Iran to reach a deal on nuclear weapons, he said that if the president attempts to establish a legal pathway for Iran to obtain nuclear weapons, Congress will step in to prevent the deal from going through.

“There is not a snowball’s chance in hell that we’re going to let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” he said. “They will stop at nothing to destroy us. And believe me, if they bring a commercial jet into our towers and kill 3,000 innocent civilians, if they had access to a nuclear weapon, they would do the same.”

Zinke said despite the challenges, he said he believes the problems in Washington are fixable, naming President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder as the primary obstacles.

“I think this president is lawless. Whether he follows the law, I think, fits his hat,” he said. “I don’t think our Founding Fathers expected a president being lawless and yet being so popular.”

However, he expressed frustration with the differences between the two Republican-controlled chambers in Congress, noting that a “clean” defense authorization bill passed by the House last month — a measure that would have defunded the president’s executive actions on immigration — failed to pass the Senate.

And while immigration reform is needed, he said the U.S. border needs to be secured first.

“If you don’t think an al-Qaida or an ISIS or an Islamic individual can come across with weapons of mass destruction, I think the fact of the matter is it’s a threat,” Zinke said.

While most of Zinke’s responses drew support from the crowd, one man told the congressman that he was alarmed by Republican budget proposals to cut Medicare and Social Security funding and partially privatize the programs.

“I don’t want to be at the mercy of a for-profit system of health-care providers and insurers,” he said. “I’m alarmed at the prospect of turning over [Social Security] money into the hands of corrupt Wall Street bankers who tried to destroy our system eight years ago. ... You have to expect the wealthy to do their part by accepting higher taxes, which they can well afford.”

Zinke responded that cutting all defense spending, taxing the richest 1 percent and other Democratic proposals would not provide a fix to the country’s growing debt.

“Take all their cash. In fact, take all your cash. Take all the cash in the entire world and it’s doesn’t add up to $18 trillion,” Zinke said, referring to U.S. debt.

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.