Montana Streamlines Cleanup Process for State Superfund Sites

State superfund sites are locations where contamination has been released from industry or mining activities. In Montana, the majority of these contaminated releases occurred at sites where mining, smelting, wood treating, railroad fueling and maintenance, petroleum refining, landfilling, and chemical manufacturing and storage activities were conducted, says the state Department of Environmental Quality.

Historical waste disposal activities at these sites caused contamination of air, surface water, groundwater, sediments, and soils with hazardous substances, the state says, warning of public health impacts such as contaminated drinking water and ecological impacts such as loss of fisheries.

At the Kalispell Pole & Timber Facility, an inactive wood treating facility that operated from 1973 to 1990, on-site soils and shallow groundwater are contaminated with pentachlorophenol and associated dioxins and furans, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and heavy petroleum hydrocarbons.

The facility is not fenced and a sawmill currently operates on part of the property, so on-site workers are present.

One of the two new laws, House Bill 153, carried by Representative Betsy Hands of Missoula, makes it easier for parties responsible for hazardous waste contamination to apply to do voluntary cleanup.

In the past, a voluntary cleanup plan has been a cradle-to-grave document that describes the investigation and cleanup process to eliminate or reduce environmental and health risk from contamination, says Sandi Olsen, Remediation Division administrator with the Montana DEQ.

Removing contaminated soil at Brewery Flats brownfield site, Montana. (Photo courtesy Montana DEQ)

First the site investigation, or environmental assessment, will determine the nature, magnitude, and extent of contamination. Then comes the cleanup or remediation proposal, using the information revealed by the environmental assessment to develop the site cleanup plan.

The state's current cleanup program already allows responsible parties to voluntarily clean up property with DEQ oversight. Since 1995, the department has approved 27 cleanup plans at 25 facilities across Montana.

The other new law, Senate Bill 71, sponsored by Senator Ron Erickson of Missoula, improves the financial reimbursement process for state superfund sites that have gone through an allocation of liability under the Controlled Allocation of Liability Act.

Under that process, a party conducting a cleanup can be reimbursed for the orphan share, or the share of cleanup costs that a defunct or insolvent party should have funded.

In the past, a party conducting cleanup could only be reimbursed for the orphan share when cleanup was finished, Olsen explains. The new legislation, SB 71, allows for reimbursement of site investigation, feasibility study, or cleanup alternatives analysis costs before cleanup is done.

The DEQ manages three sites where allocation of liability has occurred and is considering a fourth.

For more information on state superfund visit http://deq.mt.gov/StateSuperfund/Index.asp

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