On November 12, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced in a press release that there is a final agreement to investigate contamination at the Smurfit Stone Mill Superfund site, located near Frenchtown.  

Under the terms of the agreement, M2Green, International Paper, and WestRock will conduct a comprehensive investigation of soils, river sediments, and ground and surface water to determine the nature and extent of contamination at the site. The companies will also collectively reimburse EPA more than $600,000 for past costs incurred.

“This agreement helps us take the steps necessary to fully identify and begin to address threats to human health and the environment at the Smurfit Stone Mill site,” said Shaun McGrath, EPA’s regional administrator in Denver.

The site covers more than 3,100 acres adjacent to the Clark Fork River, a fishery that includes the federally designated threatened bull trout. EPA’s initial evaluation of the site indicates that the former integrated pulp and paper mill contains various contaminants of concern, including dioxins, furans, arsenic and manganese. 

Ponds built at the site were not lined, and monitoring wells show seepage is reaching the river. The shallow aquifer has been contaminated with mill effluent, the EPA said, and petroleum hydrocarbons and arsenic are likely present, along with other chemicals once used in the process of bleaching paper

The EPA worked closely with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to negotiate the scope and details of the remedial investigation. The results of the investigation will determine cleanup needs and identify potential cleanup options at the site.

Federal workers will take soil samples, samples off the surface and sediment in the Clark Fork River as well as nearby creeks.  The tests will determine how deep the contamination goes.  Workers will check nearly 50 wells on site to see if chemicals are in the ground water.  The EPA is hoping to have the sampling completed in December.  

The mill site was created in 1956 by Waldorf Paper Products.  In 1977, it was purchased by Champion International.  And then sold in 1985 to Stone Container Corp.  In 1998, Stone merged with Jefferson Smurfit to become Smurfit Stone.  

The plant employed over 400 people and made paper board and paper-based packaging.  It closed in 2009 and purchased by Green Investment Group in 2011.  M2 Green, which is a subsidiary of the Green Investment Group, had the intention to erect a wind turbine manufacturing operation.

As of August 2015, the company owes Missoula County more than $750,000 in back taxes.  They have also taken steps to protest the property’s newest appraisal value with the Montana Department of Revenue.

An article in the August Ravalli Republic stated that the Frenchtown School District has taken a substantial hit as a result of the unpaid tax bill.  They’ve been forced to rely on cash reserves to cover the shortfall.  Randy Cline, district superintendent, said the district budget was short $496,000 in 2014 and $551,000 in 2015. While a portion of that comes from other protested and unpaid taxes, much of it has resulted from M2Green’s tax delinquency, he said.

The article also stated that Peter Nielsen, director of the Water Quality District with the Missoula City-County Health Department, said that Missoula County set out goals for this site two or three years ago to eliminate the public safety and health risk, to restore the Clark Fork River in the floodplain and to hold the polluters responsible so the cleanup burden is not shifted to the taxpayers.

Nielsen also stated that, “there’s a pattern of similar problems at all their (M2Green) sites, and ours is the largest and worst. It doesn’t give us a lot of faith that we’re going to see voluntary action be productive at this site.”

The county now believes the only way of holding the parties responsible for cleanup is by designating the property as a Superfund site.