DOE Seeks public comment on Flat Creek-Iron Mountain Mine

A public comment meeting was held last Thursday, Jan. 14 by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), the US Forest Service (USFS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), regarding an Engineering Evaluation and Cost Analysis (EE/CA) for the Flat Creek-Iron Mountain Mine National Priority List Superfund Site located four miles northeast of Superior.

At the meeting, held in the Multi-Purpose room at Superior High School, the EE/CA was presented. It identifies and evaluates alternatives for addressing mine tailings on USFS and former ASARCO owned lands consisting of the Flat Creek watershed. 

Heavy metal contamination at the site originated from the Iron Mountain Mine which produced silver, gold, lead, copper and zinc in the early to mid-1900s. The tailings from the mine contain elevated concentrations of metals and have been deposited along nearly four miles of the Flat Creek floodplain, posing a continuing source of contamination to the creek.

Information from a public noticed released by DEQ states that the “alternatives evaluated in the EE/CA range from no action to removing nearly all the tailings and rock near the stream and placing them in a repository owned by DEQ in the Wood Gulch area of the Flat Creek drainage. The preferred alternative would remove the great majority of the tailings from the floodplain and place them in the Wood Gulch repository with an evapotranspirative cap.”

Mineral County Planner, Tim Read, who attended the meeting, asked DEQ representatives when they planned on starting the project. They responded that no dates have been set yet but anticipate a start date of around mid-August. 

Facilitator of the Superior Technical Assistance Committee, Anita Bailey, commented that the meeting was not publicized very well and would like to encourage community members to comment about the project. Public comment period began on Dec. 2, 2015 and will end on Jan. 25, 2016. Additional information regarding the project can be found on DEQ’s website at: DEQ.mt.gov/pubcom.mcpx, their office in Helena, at the Mineral County Court House, or the STAC office at the Chamber office in Superior.