EQC to send letters urging pause in Columbia Falls Superfund site cleanup decision

Montana’s Environmental Quality Council voted unanimously Wednesday to send letters to Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency recommending support for rare-earth mining in the Berkeley Pit and for a pause in a final decision on the proposed cleanup plan for the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company Superfund site.

The letters come at a key time for both Superfund sites, lawmakers on the council said, as a Record of Decision is expected to be finalized this spring by the EPA for the $57 million aluminum plant site cleanup plan and as Montana organizations apply for federal funding to study whether the technology exists to recover rare-earth minerals from the Pit in Butte.

The Environmental Quality Council, composed of lawmakers and members of the public, agreed to send two letters to EPA Region 8 administrators regarding the Columbia Falls site.