Officials still waiting for results on possible river contamination

Flooding on the Clark Fork River has officials concerned regarding the former Smurfit-Stone landfill in Frenchtown. A dark stream of water could be seen from outside the berm that separates the river from the landfill. The dark plume shows the underground movement of water from the berms to the river, but state and federal officials said it just might be sediments that were churned up from the high flows.

Late last week the Frenchtown Smurfit Stone Community Advisory Group gave a public briefing regarding a possible breach and said tests results will be available by Monday, June 4 as to whether the Clark Fork River has been contaminated.

Tim Read with the Environmental Health Department in Mineral County said he is waiting for test results in order to advise the Towns and Commissioners. However, “with the high water at this time it’s unlikely to see impacts on public water supplies.”

Read has met with EPA representatives and they will be keeping him updated as information becomes available. Regarding the possible contamination, the Board of County Commissioners in Missoula wrote a letter to the EPA on May 22 demanding that the agency take immediate action to sample the river water.

Smurfit-Stone is a pulp mill which operated from 1957 until 2010 with 3,200 acres of unlined ponds used to store treated and untreated wastewater filled with contaminants. In the case of an actual or imminent failure of the berm, a notification system has been put into place which includes the emergency operations center, EPA, emergency response personnel, as well as county and community leaders.

Montana’s senators have also sent letters to the EPA urging them to take immediate action concerning the possible contamination. The site was proposed to be added to the National Priority List for cleanup in 2013 but it did not get listed. However, the EPA has been working with the three potentially responsible parties regarding testing over the past several years, WestRock, International Paper, and M2Green Redevelopment.