While the EPA’s Record of Decision recently issued for the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. Superfund site is dismaying, EPA’s failure to do so without actionably considering public concerns and numerous technical issues raised is appalling.  

First, the leadership at the District 8 EPA, who made this decision on the level of cleanup required at the CFAC Superfund site, could have gone high and made us proud. But they didn’t. Instead, they chose to require only containment of highly hazardous waste with an unproven slurry wall and no treatment of the over 40 hazardous chemicals including cyanide, fluoride and many heavy metals, identified to be contaminants at this former aluminum reduction facility and now Superfund site by Flathead River. 

Buried in EPA’s recent 432-page decision is their admission that “the selected remedy does not satisfy the [EPA’s] statutory preference for treatment to address principal threats posed by a site.” 

In our letter to EPA and the Governor on Oct. 13 2024 , we, the Coalition for a Clean CFAC, wrote that the EPA could, by giving priority to EPA’s own proposed Cleanup Alternative 6 rather than their final decision to go with Alternative 4, include treatments that would reduce the cleanup of the toxic groundwater plume and its harm to area fisheries and the Flathead River from 35 to 60 years to 6 to 9 years, as their own consultant had encouraged EPA to consider.  

But no, EPA’s final record of decision failed us all and our precious water quality and economy. Instead, EPA chose the lowest level of cleanup that, while perhaps legally allowed, is nothing to be proud of. 

Secondly, despite over 800 formal written comments and petitions to EPA from organizations and individuals representing some 20,000 plus Montanans, most of which favored removal and treatment of these hazardous wastes, EPA gave unexplained preference to the cheapest option of mere containment over treatment, which only serves to benefit Glencore, one of the world’s wealthiest corporations.  

As pointed out by Earth Justice in their letter to EPA on Nov. 13, “as the Federal District Court for the District of Montana found, cleanup costs at the site would have been reduced if CFAC had not ‘knowingly avoided regulatory requirements and regulatory scrutiny.’ Moreover, as two of the world’s largest and most profitable companies, Glencore and British Petroleum should be held to high standards of corporate responsibility. This is especially the case for Glencore, which profited over $1 billion from its ownership of CFAC, following a comparatively negligible investment.” 

Finally, our third point is that EPA, throughout this public process, made a mockery of the public comment they received. They chose instead to use public comment only to check off their list of required public involvement. But here is the spoiler alert for EPA: the Coalition for a Clean CFAC and our supporters are not giving up. Instead, we will be continuing at every opportunity going forward to challenge what we see as the flawed science and failed leadership of EPA to do what is indeed best for the community. We will be insisting at every step forward that EPA and the MT Dept. of Environmental Quality do more to provide greater long-term protection of the health of residents, the Flathead’s clean water, fisheries, and the local economy that depends on these qualities to thrive. 

— The Board of Coalition for a Clean CFAC, Phil Matson, Mayre Flowers (406-253-0872), Shirley Folkwein (406-890-1659), Del Phipps, Laura Damon and Peter Metcalf