EPA inks clean-up agreement with Montana aluminum plant

By

AMANDA EGGERT/Montana Free Press

The owner of a sprawling, long-shuttered aluminum plant in Columbia Falls has agreed to pay $57.6 million to mitigate pollution associated with decades of aluminum smelting.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a statement Tuesday applauding an agreement with Columbia Falls Aluminum Company that outlines the cleanup objectives for one of northwestern Montana’s largest industrial sites.The agreement comes nearly a decade after the EPA added the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company site to the National Priorities List, also known as the Superfund list. Under the agreement, CFAC will be responsible for mitigating toxic byproducts such as arsenic, fluoride and cyanide at the site, which was Flathead County’s largest employer in its 1970s heyday. Much of the waste will be consolidated at the site and capped with material designed to prevent pollutants from contaminating the surrounding soil and water.Cyrus Western, the former Wyoming legislator who now oversees EPA’s Region 8 office headquartered in Denver, described the development as a “significant milestone” that will facilitate site redevelopment.

“In coordination with our federal, state, local and industry partners, EPA is advancing effective, protective solutions that safeguard human health and the environment,” Western said in a July 7 press release.