Loading...
LT to KC Becker Region 8 EPA and to Carolina Balliew Montana Remedial Section C Supervisor, Region 8 from Coalition for a Clean CFAC Aimee Brunckhorst From: Mayre Flowers <mayre@flatheadcitizens.org> Sent: Monday, July 29, 2024 10:39 PM To: becker.kc@epa.gov; Balliew, Carolina;Jenkins, Katherine;John Muhlfeld; Michelle Howke; Mark Johnson; Kalispell Meetings Public Comment; Brad.Abell@flathead.mt.gov; Randy Brodehl; Pam.Holmquist@flathead.mt.gov; cocontactus@flathead.mt.gov; richjanssen@cskt.org; info@cskt.org; Chelsea.Colwyn@cskt.org; Chauncey Means; Erik_Nylund@tester.senate.gov; Chad_Campbell@tester.senate.gov; Devlin, Katie (Daines); Dick Sloan; jrankosky@flathead.mt.gov; Tom.bansak@umontana.edu;jim.elser@flbs.umt.edu; Mike Koopal; casey.lewis@mt.gov; samantha@flatheadcd.org Cc: Mayre Flowers Subject: EXTERNAL LT to KC Becker Region 8 EPA and to Carolina Balliew Montana Remedial Section C Supervisor, Region 8 Attachments: Clean CFAC Coalition LT to EPA 7-29-2024 .pdf, Coalition for a Clean CFAC 7-16-2024 oped DIL.pdf [NOTICE: This message includes an attachment -- DO NOT CLICK on links or open attachments unless you know the content is safe.] Mayre Flowers, on behalf of the Coalition fora Clean CFAC Mayre - Flatheadcitizens.org, 406-755-4521 H, 406-253-0872 Cell, 1 Aft COALITION for a , i ���fllll��'I�� �ul NIA I� CLEAN uuuuuu� imnnnn�ofiin2n CFAC To: KC Becker To: Carolina Balliew Regional Administrator for EPA's Region 8 Montana Remedial Section C Supervisor, Region 8 Environmental Protection Agency US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 1595 Wynkoop St., Denver, CO 80202-1129 10 West 15th Street, Helena, MT 59626 July 29, 2024 Dear Ms. Becker and Ms. Balliew, We are writing you to share that we are making good progress with the support you have provided under the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA)TASC program and the technical consultants that you have provided us through that program. As you are aware, over 2000 local residents, thirteen organizations representing many thousands of more local residents, as well as other local government and legislative bodies have asked the EPA to provide the public support to work with independent experts to help the affected community better understand the complex data, 10,000 pages of technical documents, and other supporting studies for the proposed cleanup plan. Matt Dorrington, the EPA's Remedial Project Manager for the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company (CFAC) Superfund site, has challenged us to look for critical gaps in information within the technical documents compiled to support the proposed cleanup plan. And that is just what we are doing.These findings could lead to a revised and more acceptable community cleanup plan. Already we are seeing some important issues that deserve additional review and are working hard to compile the research to support this call for some additional focused feasibility studies before EPA moves forward with a final decision. What we need now more than anything is time from EPA to do this work. We are deeply appreciative that you and your staff have been supportive of giving us and the community more time, acknowledging that community acceptance of the final cleanup plan is a benchmark that EPA works hard to achieve. Please see the attached editorial that ran in all four major papers in the Flathead the week of July 16t" to update the community on the work being done locally under the TASC program. We had meetings scheduled with the Flathead County commissioners the following week to directly provide them feedback and seek additional input from them. Unfortunately, we and the public were blindsided when with no more than one day's notice, which was only posted on their website, the Flathead County Commissioners voted on 7/16 to approve a letter asking th EPA to move forward with a final Record of Decision on the proposed Columbia Falls Aluminum Company (CFAC) Cleanup Plan. We were equally blindsided to learn that the night before on 7/15 the Columbia Falls City Council at the direction of the Mayor raised and voted affirmatively 6-1 at the very end of their council meeting to take a similar action. The Council failed to provide any public notice of this action, a clear violation of Montana public participation statutes. The mayor attended the Commissioners' meeting the next morning on behalf of the city and in support of the county's letter asking you move forward with the ROD. Also in attendance was the CFAC Project Manager John Stroiazzo, giving a New York address, and of course speaking in favor of the three Flathead County Commissioners sending their letter asking you to move forward with the ROD. Had either of these local government bodies provided required and adequate public comment notice for consideration of their change of support for a pause and more time for the independent and community study of the cleanup plan, they would have been met with standing room only crowds and a flood of emails in opposition to their request to move forward with the ROD. We urge you to continue to provide the community and the TASC program the opportunity to continue our"deep dive" into the proposed CFAC Cleanup plan. We invite you to attend our first public community outreach and feedback sessions August 20-21 with final details of times and locations to be announced shortly. We have two additional meetings tentatively scheduled for September and October and we continue to meet twice weekly in an effort to do this research as quickly as possible. We hope you will recognize that following the city and county's letters would short change the TASC process and limit the opportunity for the community to understand the plan. Following these letters would also undermine the EPA ability to build trust with the community that the proposed plan truly protects our health, our environment, and our economy, and not just the interests of Glencore who owns CFAC. Please provide us the time to do this vital work as a community. Finally, KC, we hope that we can follow up this letter with a phone call with you in the next few weeks as we have not had a chance to meet with you directly. We appreciate the responsive and positive working relationship we have found in working directly with Carolina. We also appreciate that you have sent Katherine Jenkins to attend recent community meetings organized by CFAC with their consultants. We trust and hope that you can have representation for our upcoming community meetings as well. Sincerely, Mayre Flowers, on behalf of the Coalition for a Clean CFAC, PO Box 2198, Kalispell, MT 59903 406-253-0872 cell, 406-755-4521 landline Attached: • Coalition for a Clean CFAC Op-Ed that appeared the week of July 16t" in the Kalispell Daily Interlake,the Hungry Horse News,the Whitefish Pilot, and the Flathead Beacon Cc • Columbia Falls City Council, Mayor Don Barnhart, (no public email available) • Whitefish City Council, Mayor John Mulfield, • Kalispell City Council, Mayor Mark Johnson • Flathead County Commissioners: Brad Abell, Randy Brodehl, and Pam Holmquist • US Senator Jon Tester, c/o Erik Nylund, Regional Director Butte, and Chad Cambell, Regional Director, Kalispell • US Senator Steve Daines, c/o Katie Devlin, Natural Resource Liaison • Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council,Tom McDonald, Chair • The Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes: Richard Janssen, Head of CSKT Natural Resources Dept • The Montana Natural Resource Damage Program: Doug Martin and Katherine Hausrath • Montana DEQ Project Manager, Richard Sloan • Flathead City-County Health Department:Jennifer Rankosky • Flathead Lake Biological Station, UM,James Elser, Director and Tom Bansak, Associate Director • Western Montana Conservation Commission, Casey Lewis, Executive Director, Mike Koppel, Chair • Flathead Conservation District, Pete Woll, Board Chair, and Samantha Tappenbeck, Resource Conservationist Montana https://dailyinterlake-mt.newsmemory.com/ee/_nmum/_default_bb_inc... Going deep on the CFAC cleanup GUEST OPINION What we need now more than was drafted by CFAC and its anything is time from EPA to do this consultants and is now awaiting final work. adoption, or final adoption with changes, by the Denver office of the BY MAYRE FLOWERS AND EPA. To date strong public opposition SHIRLEY FOLKWEIN to the plan has been raised by over 2,000 residents petitioning and asking Going deep is an essential next step in for more time to study and evaluate the order for Columbia Falls and Flathead plan, with similar concerns raised by County residents to begin to really the city of Columbia Falls, Flathead understand and raise meaningful County, the Environmental Quality questions about the proposed leave-the Council of the Legislature, and 13 toxic waste-in-place cleanup plan for conservation- related nonprofits. The the Columbia Falls Aluminum Coalition for a Clean CFAC is led by a Company (CFAC) Superfund site. And small all volunteer steering committee going deep is exactly what the comprised of Flathead County Coalition for a Clean CFAC is busy residents with a variety of doing now thanks to recent support backgrounds and expertise. Please funding for consultants to help us track email us at coalition@cleancfac.org to down and better understand the discuss how you might help with some complex data that is buried within of this research or to ask that we give some 10,000 pages of technical attention to an area of particular documents, which are the supporting concern to you. Our mission is to studies for this proposed cleanup plan. secure the comprehensive cleanup of the CFAC Superfund site for the As Matt Dorrington, the health, enjoyment, and economic Environmental Protection Agency's benefit of the local community and the (EPA) remedial project manager for protection of the Flathead watershed. the CFAC Superfund site, has challenged us to do, we are looking for The EPA, DEQ and CFAC critical gaps in information within representatives will be back in these technical documents compiled to Columbia Falls July 17 and 18 to host support the proposed cleanup plan, that another open house at The Hub. They could lead to a revised and more will be offering one-on-one 1 of 3 7/29/24,5:40 PM Montana https://dailyinterlake-mt.newsmemory.com/ee/_nmum/_default_bb_inc... acceptable community cleanup plan. conversations, providing similar information as to that made available Already we are seeing some important at their April meetings in Columbia issues that deserve additional review Falls as well as the June site visits. The and are working hard to compile the July 17 open houses are 12-3 p.m. and research to support this call for some 5-8 p.m., and EPA will have a booth at additional focused feasibility studies the farmers' market on Thursday before EPA moves forward with a final evening, July 18 from 5-8 p.m. These decision. What we need now more drop in sessions can be a good place to than anything is time from EPA to do hear from agency and company this work. So far EPA has been very representatives, on what they have supportive of giving us and the done and studied to date. community more time, acknowledging that community acceptance of the final Project Manager John Stroiazzo of cleanup plan is a benchmark that EPA CFAC was recently quoted in the works hard to achieve. Flathead Beacon in regard to questions about the stability and protective Through EPA's Technical Assistance capability of the proposed massive Services for Communities (TASC) "slurry walls" to contain the toxic Program, we (and the community) are waste on site at CFAC, given the being provided services through a gravely glacial till soil of the CFAC national EPA contract. site. As the EPA website states, "Under the "All of our experts are quite confident contract, a contractor provides that this will work quite well." scientists, engineers and other professionals to review and explain The Coalition for a Clean CFAC is information to communities." appreciative and respectful of such assurances, but believes it is vital now In mid-August and again in September for the community to have time to go and October, we plan to host what we deep and look for independent analysis are calling some mutual- learning of such assertions, while also opportunities in the form of interactive examining the data used to support exchanges with the community at large assertions like this. to share what we are finding and to hear more from the community where Let's go deep, take time, and make you see the need to take action to sure in the end that the community better ensure that the final cleanup plan comes together around the best for the CFAC superfund site is good cleanup strategy for CFAC. for the community, the environment, and the local economy. This deep dive Mayre Flowers and Shirley Folkwein, into these records is spurred by the on behalf of the Coalition for a Clean 2 of 3 7/29/24,5:40 PM Montana https://dailyinterlake-mt.newsmemory.com/ee/_nmum/_default_bb_inc... simple fact that the proposed leave- CFAC's Board. thetoxic- waste-in-place cleanup plan is failing to pass the public's widespread healthy skepticism that the current proposal will be protective, over the longterm, of the public's health, safety and welfare. The proposed cleanup plan Copyright(c) 2024 Daily Inter Lake, Edition 7/16/2024 Powered by TECNAVIA Tuesday,07/16/2024 Page.A003 Copyright(c)2024 Daily Inter Lake,Edition 7/16/2024 3 of 3 7/29/24,5:40 PM