CFAC cleanup plan expected next spring
A piece of heavy equipment sits idle after hours at the CFAC settling ponds in this December 2020 file photo.
The wheels are still turning on the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. Superfund site cleanup.
Crews from Sandry Construction should finish removing contaminated sediments from settling ponds adjacent to the Flathead River in the coming days. The contaminant of concern is barium, according to Project Manager Ken Champagne of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The sediments, at least for now, are being stored on the main CFAC site under an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Meanwhile, a draft feasibility study was completed by the company in October and is currently being reviewed by the EPA and the state Department of Environmental Quality.
The final feasibility study should be completed next spring and available for public comment. That study determines the best alternatives for cleaning up the site.
On the legal front, a bench trial in federal court was supposed to start last week in front of District Court Judge Donald Molloy, but Molloy in a recent ruling said he regrettably was postponing it until June due to coronavirus concerns.
CFAC is suing former plant owner, the Atlantic Richfield Co., which is owned by British Petroleum. It claims ARCO created most of the pollution at the site, and as such, should be responsible for cleaning it up.
The pond cleanup, which was paid for by CFAC, went well, Champagne noted,
The south ponds were originally built in the 1960s by installing a dam and infrastructure to close off a northern side channel of the Flathead River. The south ponds were used as percolation ponds throughout the operational history of the site and now receive site storm water.
Those stormwater pipes will be removed, as will the coffer dam. The dam removal is slated for next spring, Champagne said.
Champagne has taken over as project manager for the EPA to replace Mike Cirian, who retired.
Actual cleanup of the site is still a few years out — a best case scenario puts that possibly in 2023, assuming both litigation and design go well.
The main focus of concern has been high levels of cyanide and fluoride in groundwater below old landfills onsite, where spent potliner and wastewater was dumped for years.