As western Montana heads back to work and school after the long pleasant Memorial Day holiday weekend, area rivers are still at flood stage, but the worst seems to be over.
The federal on-scene coordinator with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Emergency Response Unit, Marty McComb and one other EPA official are in Missoula to test the berms and the toxins at the former Smurfit-Stone mill site
The Missoula County Commissioners have drafted a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality citing their concerns about the pollution that has accumulated over the last 50 years at the former Smurfit-Stone mill site in Frenchtown.
Health Department officials ask for EPA help in case toxic materials behind berms at the old Smurfit site break through into the Clark Fork River due to flooding.
One of the most significant effects of the Clark Fork River flooding is the danger of toxic materials stored for the last half-century in the old Smurfit settling ponds that are separated from the swollen river by only a series of earthen berms, being released into the river.
Flood response officials are focusing their attention on a levee in the East Mullan Road area that is reportedly being eroded by the flooding of the Clark Fork River, possibly putting infrastructure in the area at risk.
After declaring a flood emergency in late April, the Clark Fork, Bitterroot and Blackfoot Rivers have flooded and hundreds of thousands of county dollars have been expended, so Missoula County Commissioners officially declared a disaster on Thursday morning, making way for state aid.
The Missoula County Office of Emergency Management made an emergency declaration at the end of April in anticipation of the high waters they knew would be coming.