Work on dam halts during pandemic

Work on the Kootenai Development Impoundment Dam has paused as project officials grapple with travel restrictions and equipment shortfalls related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The dam, built on Rainy Creek, contains asbestos-laden tailings from the former W.R. Grace vermiculate mine. Work to upgrade the barrier began more than a year ago and was expected to take up to four years to complete, according to public documents.

Speaking with the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners via phone April 8, Anthony Penfold, a remediation manager with W.R. Grace, said the first phase of the project went well, offering protection of a 100-year flood event. But work on the second phase has halted in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

Stay-at-home orders and travel restrictions have added logistical complications, Penfold said. Gov. Steve Bullock has asked residents to avoid public gatherings by staying at home and issued a travel quarantine of up to 14-days for anyone traveling into Montana. Both measures are aimed at curtailing the spread of COVID-19.

Additionally, the protective equipment workers use at the site is the same employed by healthcare workers, Penfold said.

“We do not want to be in a situation where, in order to get this work done, we’re potentially shortchanging other parts of the community that need their protective equipment,” Penfold told county commissioners.

Project officials also worry about the possibility of spreading COVID-19, which had caused a global death toll of more than 100,000 by April 9, by continuing work.

“One of the major concerns from Grace’s side is that we don’t want to expose people,” Penfold said. “We don’t want to get into a situation where we have people on site and getting exposed.”

The second phase of the project will see the dam expanded to withstand a 500-year flood interval level. That translates into an additional eight-foot high embankment by the existing cofferdam, Penfold said. While work has halted, Penfold told county commissioners that the standard inspection and maintenance activities at the site are ongoing.

“We still have an engineer going up there and checking to make sure nothing is changing, we’re still getting water level readings and all of that,” he said.