EPA updates local officials on Superfund site status

Representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency visited with the Libby City Council July 17 and the Libby County Commission July 19 to update officials on the status of the Libby Asbestos Superfund site.

Mike Cirian, the EPA’s onsite project manager, was joined by Remedial Project Manager Dania Zinner and Superfund Project Manager Christina Progess, as well as Lisa DeWitt of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.

Cirian noted that the last call for property owners to arrange a clean up was “a success,” so much so that the approximately 140 properties the EPA is slated to clean may not be completed by the end of 2017. He said even though the deadline to apply for clean up was March 31, homeowners were still approaching the EPA in recent weeks. He said he’s been telling people “we’ll fit you in” because the EPA’s goal is to clean as many properties as it can.

Zinner, who oversees the Lincoln County Port Authority site, said work is progressing on an operations and maintenance plan, the final step before a partial deletion, the first step toward removing a site from Superfund listing. She noted the need for a final site inspection in August and a “few more things to iron out in Spetember” before transferring site responsibility to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.

Dewitt said that the DEQ is working with the Port Authority to establish environmental covenants that would be included in the deed to the property to explain the remedial work that has been done there.

Progess gave an update about the W.R. Grace mine site, noting concerns about the stability of a tailings impoundment dam. She said W.R. Grace plans to install a coffer dam this fall as a short-term solution in advance of next spring’s high water flows.

“The coffer dam buys us time to evaluate further long-term strategies,” she said.

Progess also said a meeting was to be held with loggers and millowners to discuss revised site boundaries.