Tell the EPA to Consider Flood Risks at the Smurfit-Stone Pulp Mill Along Montana's Clark Fork River

Clark Fork River | Photo by Chris Boyer/KestrelAerial.com

History shows us that when we ignore flood risks, we put downstream residents in harm's way. New science reveals alarming findings regarding flood risks at the Smurfit-Stone site, a former pulp mill located along the Clark Fork River near Frenchtown, Montana. Industrial toxins stored in and near the floodplain could wash downstream in a future flood, if the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) doesn’t take flood risks seriously.

Climate scientists forecast more large, unpredictable, rain-driven floods in the future, similar to the unprecedented 2022 Yellowstone River flood. That’s unsettling news for the decrepit, unmaintained, gravel berm at the Smurfit-Stone pulp mill, which separates the Clark Fork River from tons of hazardous toxins (some cancer-causing) including heavy metals, PCBs, dioxins, and furans. These toxins are strewn across nearly 1,000 acres adjacent to the river–the legacy of more than 50 years of cardboard manufacturing. A new study commissioned by American Rivers and Clark Fork Coalition models berm failure due to flooding and predicts harmful consequences for the river and downstream residents.

It’s time for the EPA to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the environmental risks posed by berm failure at the Smurfit-Stone pulp mill, including a clean-up plan that removes wastes within or adjacent to the Clark Fork River floodplain.

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Project Manager

Allie

Archer

EPA

Ms.

Mackenzie

Meter

EPA

Dear Project Manager Archer,

Flood risk due to berm failure at the site of the former Smurfit-Stone pulp mill puts the Clark Fork River and Montanans who live downstream in harm’s way. The EPA’s risk assessment does not currently acknowledge the flood risk burden borne by downstream rural residents, nor does it account for the increase in likelihood of catastrophic flooding over the next 50-100 years.

Since cleanup plans at the Smurfit-Stone pulp mill ultimately will be based on the risk assessment, EPA must complete the necessary additional sampling requested by the community while conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the environmental risks posed by berm failure. I join the Clark Fork Coalition and American Rivers in asking the EPA to include River Design Group’s 2024 study, Clark Fork River - Smurfit-Stone Site Hydraulic Modeling, Flood Mapping and Breach Analysis, in its Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessments to help fully inform the agency ahead of a feasibility study and evaluation of remedial alternatives. The River Design Group study reveals that the berms can fail in multiple ways, even at moderate flows, and that toxins stored in and near the floodplain would be washed downstream to Lake Pend Oreille and beyond. The clean-up plan must be driven by additional sampling to identify and remove waste from within and adjacent to the Clark Fork River floodplain, and the river must be reconnected to its historic floodplain.

Future flooding is a certainty on the Clark Fork River, but the devastating impacts of toxic deposition don’t have to be.

Sincerely,

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