Repository in progress

State and town workers along with interested community members took another tour Thursday afternoon of Flat Creek, where a repository is in the process of being built.

Since 2009, when the Environmental Protection Agency listed Flat Creek and the Iron Mountain Mine site as a superfund site from test showing high levels of lead and arsenic in mine tailings, work has been done on a repository and clean up plan.

The tour last Thursday showed the work that has been done thus far.

The last time many in the group went up to Flat Creek in July, the potential Wood Gulch Repository site was still woodlands. What the group saw this time was a cleared out area ready to be built on. The repository site is bordered by a small fence and is locked by a gate.

Daryl Reed, the Department of Environmental Quality project manager, said the three involved agencies (EPA, DEQ and the US Forest Service) still have to negotiate the final steps of the repository, including who will run it when it is built.

Locally, Rick Miller of Green Mountain Construction, will continue to do contract work related to the repository construction. Other locals have been hired for traffic control while work is being done in the area.

The cleared out repository site showed the overall clean up project is continuing to move forward. Steve Ackerlund, a technical assistant for the local Superior Technical Assistance Committee, said the progress is due to a high level of understanding and involvement from those a part of the project.

“In this particular case, the project has moved along quickly to this point,” Ackerlund said. “There has been a good alignment of thinking on what should be done.”

The agencies involved make no guarantees, but Reed said the intention is to complete the project by the end of next year.

Along with the tour of the Wood Gulch Repository site, the Forest Service revealed findings from their beginning investigation of Forest Service land on Flat Creek.

The findings are still early, and the Forest Service hopes to have complete results by March.

Then the other agencies, EPA and DEQ will follow in the clean up process after then.

For the repository, a final design is in the works.

However, the final plan cannot be finished until it is known how much waste from Flat Creek there is.

For now, Ackerlund said the clean up project would be quite until March, when the Forest Service comes out with their plan for their Flat Creek land.

Up until now, here is the timeline of past events and potential future happenings:

1990s, The Iron Mountain Mine’s owner (Asarco) conducted some remediation at the mine.

2000, Montana DEQ asked EPA to conduct a preliminary assessment.

2001, EPA conducted the preliminary assessment and elevated lead and arsenic are found.

2002, EPA sampled 64 residential properties, 20 right-of-ways and 10 municipal properties.

An emergency removal of the most contaminated soils was conducted.

2007, EPA revised the preliminary assessment to incorporate 2002 data and data from a 2007 site visit.

2009, EPA sampled 317 properties and added the site to the National Priorities List (Superfund).

2010, EPA sampled 267 – 317 properties and removed contaminated soil at properties with lead concentration above 3,000 ppm.

A free health screening was offered.

2011, EPA will begin construction of the mine waste repository and will complete the remedial investigation and feasibility study reports for Superior.

The proposed plan for cleanup should be released for public comment in late August and a record of decision for Superior will follow.

2012, EPA will design and implement the removals necessary for residential and non-residential properties in Superior.