Residents hear overview of Superfund cleanup plan

Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency provided an overview of the Superfund process to Columbia Falls community members after it added the site of the shuttered Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. to the National Priorities List last month.

Mike Cirian, the EPA’s project manager for the site, told about 30 residents and elected officials gathered at the Columbia Falls Junior High School Thursday night that the agency is moving as urgently as possible. But he stressed that the timeline for the cleanup process will depend on results of an ongoing investigation of contaminants at the site.

A “feasibility study,” which will outline options for a cleanup process, will follow the investigation and is expected to be ready in 2020. Finalizing a cleanup plan will take about another year.

“The remedial investigation is really where we start trying to identify the nature and extent of the contamination,” Cirian said.

That process has begun under an agreement reached between the EPA and CFAC.

The company financially committed $4 million to complete the initial work, of which Cirian said about $2 million has already been spent drilling 40 new wells, refurbishing 24 existing wells and taking groundwater, surface water, soil and sediment samples in and around the site.

The EPA’s work is being undertaken separately from ongoing demolition and recycling work at the site of the former aluminum reduction plant.

Cirian said results of the first round of soil sampling should be made publicly available sometime this month, followed by preliminary water contamination test results by November. Additional groundwater testing will take place this December, next spring and next summer.

Several residents voiced concerns about the safety of their drinking water — particular from residential wells in communities near the plant’s property.

Past environmental studies have found traces of contaminants in river sediment and groundwater around the property, including low levels of cyanide in a well near the Aluminum City neighborhood.

Roxy Jacobi lives next to that neighborhood and uses well water, but said she doesn’t drink it.

“We’re frustrated and we’re scared,” Jacobi told officials during the meeting. “We don’t know where we are. ... Our numbers have changed on our wells and we’re getting a little bit nervous.”

After the meeting, Joe Vranka, the EPA’s regional unit supervisor for the Superfund program, stopped short of calling the drinking water “safe,” but said none of the agency’s preliminary testing results had found contamination levels in excess of federal drinking water standards.

Further testing over the next year will give the agency a clearer picture of where the contaminants in the aquifer lie, and where they’re spreading.

If any potential health risks are detected, Cirian said affected residents will be immediately notified and the agency will deploy emergency response teams.

Following the EPA’s Sept. 9 designation of the CFAC property as a Superfund site, the agency’s community involvement coordinator Robert Moler said a variety of resources will become available to the community. Technical Assistance Grants of up to $50,000 will be available on an annual basis to hire a technical advisor for the community and to assist a “Community Advisory Group” to act as a liaison between the federal agency and the Columbia Falls community.

Moler also noted the technical nature of testing results and toxicology studies, and said he, Cirian and other officials will be available as resources for explaining the data in simpler terms.

David Dorian is an environmental health scientist with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which will work alongside the EPA to conduct human health assessments as the process unfolds.

“The purpose of a health assessment is to evaluate what the potential past, present and future impacts to human health are,” he said.

Dorian also said he would be available to community members with questions and concerns about potential human health threats. He can be reached at 303-312-7011, or by email at dorian.david@epa.gov

Residents with questions about the Superfund process can contact Mike Cirian at 406-293-6194.