Cleaning up the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. site could take at least a decade, although it could be done faster if the state rather than the federal government was in charge.

That was one of the messages imparted last week by representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality at a public meeting in Columbia Falls.

The meeting including preliminary results from a screening assessment based on sampling done at the CFAC site last fall. The plant has been closed since 2009.

 EPA site assessment manager Rob Parker said contaminants including metals, cyanide, fluoride and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were found near landfills north of the plant and percolation ponds north and south of the plant.

“All this is similar to other industrial plants and was not surprising,” he said.

Samples also were taken from five residential wells in Aluminum City southwest of CFAC.

Two contained cyanide at levels well below the Safe Drinking Water Act’s allowable limits, Parker said. Consultants returned in early April under spring conditions to sample 20 residential wells near the aluminum plant.

“We don’t have that data back yet,” Parker said.

The EPA has seen no data indicating the city of Columbia Falls’ drinking water supply is in danger, Parker said.

Ccyanide and metals such as manganese have reached the Flathead River, but fish tissues have not been sampled so it’s unknown if fish have been impacted, Parker said.

The next step for the EPA is a more detailed remedial investigation, Parker said. The CFAC site is eligible for the federal Superfund’s National Priority List because contaminants at the site are not properly contained.

“NPL listing would open up funding and technical resources for a remedial investigation to determine any long-term threats to health or the environment,” Parker said.

EPA site assessment manager Victor Ketellapper, who spent several years at Libby dealing with asbestos contamination, said a remedial investigation could take three to four years and total cleanup could take seven to 10 years.

But there could be a faster alternative.

“The state has programs that can be used even if the EPA is not involved,” said Jenny Chambers, the Department of Environmental Quality Remedial Division administrator.

Montana’s Superfund program operates under the Comprehensive Environmental Cleanup and Responsibility Act, and CFAC already is on that list, said Denise Martin, the state Hazardous Waste Cleanup section supervisor.

The site could also be cleaned up under the state’s Water Quality Act, Chambers said, but both processes are time- consuming and depend on people sending comments to local officials to get the process started.

“The EPA policy is not to move forward without local support, including a letter from the governor,” Ketellapper said.

“If I hear from the public loud and clear, then I’ll take it to the next level,” Chambers said, recommending people write their city council members and county commissioners.

The Columbia Falls City Council on Monday directed City Manager Susan Nicosia to draft a letter to Gov. Steve Bullock and Montana Department of Environmental Quality Director Tracy Stone-Manning requesting that the CFAC site be placed on the federal Superfund’s National Priorities List for further action.

The council letter would be contingent on concurrence from Flathead County commissioners.

An important step for both the state or federal agencies would be an investigation into prior ownership of the plant site to find responsible parties who could pay for the cleanup.

“We can’t clean up the site and try to get money later,” Chambers said. “If we can’t get the cleanup money from the plant’s owner, then we would have to go to the NPL list and ultimately to Congress for funding.”

 Former Flathead County Commissioner Henry Oldenburg warned about contamination migrating downstream to Flathead Lake and noted that he has been using the Flathead River as his drinking water source for decades.

Ketellapper explained that the river is not a source for a public water supply and the screening didn’t look at private sources. He also noted that the EPA is “taking the community’s interest seriously.”

“A remedial investigation could look into sampling further down the river,” Parker added.

Hanners is the editor of the Hungry Horse News.