Meeting with local business leaders in Columbia Falls Friday morning, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said a Superfund designation for the town’s shuttered aluminum plant is an important step toward improving economic development in both Columbia Falls and the Flathead Valley.

Tester reiterated his support for the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to add Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. to the Superfund National Priorities List, which would initiate the process of decontaminating the site and trying to compel CFAC’s parent company, Glencore, to pay the costs.

The EPA plans to propose the Superfund listing this month.

Tester’s position on the cleanup contrasts with Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., who opposes the Superfund listing and said the company could perform the cleanup much faster without EPA intervention

Tester acknowledged the Superfund process would be lengthy but objected to Zinke’s assertion that the designation would create a stigma that would hurt Columbia Falls’ economic future.

“At the point in time when you have to start investing hundreds of millions in a water treatment plant, that’ll kill your community,” Tester said, referring to groundwater contamination. He added that the federal agency’s involvement would provide assurance to businesses and residents that the contamination has actually been cleaned up.

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., hasn’t weighed in on the issue, but Tester said he hopes his Senate colleague will support the Superfund listing.

“We all probably have the same goal,” he said. “Zinke has already drawn his line in the sand, but if we can get Steve on board, he might be able to do more to influence Zinke.”

Tester said he was skeptical of the company’s assurances that it would clean up the site, a sentiment shared by the other residents and business leaders attending Friday’s meeting in Columbia Falls.

“They haven’t followed through on their previous promises, so obviously we can’t hold our breath on this promise coming through,” Columbia Falls Mayor Don Barnhart said. “Unfortunately, they decided they didn’t want to work with the state.”

Barnhart was referring to Glencore’s decision late last year to break off cleanup talks with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. Glencore opposes the Superfund listing.

As Freedom Bank founder and CEO Don Bennett put it: “They’ll say, ‘We’re interested in cleaning it up,’ but they’re not interested. They’re a dollars-and-cents company.” 

Bennett noted that Glencore didn’t create all of the problems at the site, having taken over ownership in 1999. But, he added, “when they purchased the plant, they certainly received good revenues and the liability that went along with it.”

Tester said he hasn’t reached out to Glencore but was frustrated after negotiating on their behalf with the Bonneville Power Administration in late 2010, an experience that left him with little faith the company will follow through on the cleanup.

“The truth is, that isn’t their pattern,” Tester said. “That hasn’t been their pattern in the past and I don’t see anything that’s going to make that change.”

As the discussion turned to economic development initiatives in Columbia Falls, Tester said the community is poised to become a strong tourist destination, particularly with the number of visitors that travel through the town en route to other destinations. But cleaning up the industrial site is critical to its success.

“You are sitting on a wonderful piece of God’s infrastructure called Glacier National Park,” he said. “If you can get them to stop here, you win the war.”

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com