Superior soon to be a Superfund site

After months of planning and deliberation, the Superior Town Council finally decided to proceed with the process of making the town of Superior a Superfund site.

Superior Town Council Members voted unanimously Nov. 10 to request that Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer write a letter asking that Superior be put on the National Priorities List, the first step to getting Superior approved as a Superfund site.

Doug Roll, a town council member from Libby, and Tony Berget, the current mayor of Libby who will soon step down to take a seat as a Lincoln County Commissioner, attended the meeting to provide the members of the Superior Town Council with advice about the Superfund process.

"As far as the listing itself goes, I see it as a positive thing," said Berget.

Libby has been going through the Superfund process. Contrary to the concerns of the council, Berget, along with representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, said cleaning up any potential health concerns actually makes the town more attractive because people know there is little chance of purchasing contaminated property.

The proposed Superfund cleanup would deal with mine tailings from the Flat Creek Mine Area just outside of Superior. While EPA representatives have said that there is no immediate health risk to the community, mine tailings possibly contaminated with arsenic and other dangerous heavy metals may have been taken from that site and used as fill dirt in construction or landscaping projects throughout the community.

In 2002 the Superior High School track was dug up and replaced during an emergency response effort from the EPA.

The track consisted of tailings from the Flat Creek area, and many people may have used tailings to fill in driveways before the heavy metals dangers were discovered.

Gwen Christiansen, an EPA representative who has been working with Mineral County Commissioners and Superior Town Council Members, said that with a letter from Schweitzer, she is confident that Superior will be approved for listing.

If listed, Superior property owners who give permission will have their property tested through soil samples to determine whether or not there is a dangerous level of heavy metals in their soil.

Christiansen has said that the soil samples are inconspicuous and do little to no damage to the property.

If dangerous levels of heavy metals are found, Superfund money will pay to remove the dangerous soil and replace it.

Along with the cleanup in Superior, the Forest Service will be using money gleaned from a bankruptcy settlement with ASAR Co., the mining company that owns the Flat Creek Mine property, to clean up tailing on Forest Service Property.

The town of Superior is in the process of trying to obtain a similar settlement from ASAR Co. to clean up tailings near Flat Creek and clean up an old well that could potentially save the town money by providing a cheaper source of water.

While Superfund money will likely help clean up potentially hazardous materials around Superior, Superior's Mayor Mike Wood said that it does not look likely that Superfund will help to clean up the town's well.

During last Monday's meeting, Mineral County Planner Tim Read expressed concern that the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, which will have to work hand-in-hand with the EPA for Superfund Listing to be successful, has not been as helpful as possible during the early considerations of listing.

Read said that the MDEQ has merely listened and not given an opinion one way or the other as to whether or not Superior should become a Superfund site.

He urged the Superior Town Council to contact the MDEQ and ask for significant backing in the coming project.