Glencore wants 'sustainable' solution

A representative of Swiss-based commodities giant Glencore PLC says the company is well aware of recent sampling at the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. smelter by the Environmental Protection Agency and intends to stay in touch with stakeholders as plans for the plant site develop.

Charles Watenphul, a Glencore spokesman based in Baar, Switzerland, was responding to questions about the company’s intentions contained in a June 3 letter by Sen. Jon Tester.

Watenphul said Glencore is “committed to facilitating the establishment of a long term, sustainable solution” for CFAC and to “meaningful and open dialogue” regarding future plans for the plant site.

He also said the company was still analyzing the “potential implications” of the EPA’s report based on sampling conducted at the plant last fall and was “pleased to report” that EPA did not detect cyanide in private wells near the plant during a second round of testing in April.

“You will appreciate that these are complex issues, and we need time to ensure that they are properly assessed with a view to formulating the best sustainable solution for the site,” Watenphul said.

Glencore officials have notified one of the CFAC plant’s previous owners, Atlantic Richfield, which became a subsidiary of BP in 2000, “about their obligations in respect of any potential remediation of the site,” he said.

CFAC has seen four owners since it began operating as the Anaconda Aluminum Co. in 1955 — The Anaconda Co., Atlantic Richfield Co., Brack Duker and Jerome Broussard, and Glencore, which bought the plant in 1999. The smelter has been shut down since October 2009.

As for Tester’s interest in rePlan, the Canadian planning firm Glencore recently hired to look at the CFAC facility, Watenphul said rePlan will help Glencore “get a better understanding of the impact on the various stakeholders of the current situation.”

“Their work has just begun,” Watenphul said. “However, we will ensure that any conclusive findings form part of the appropriate steps that would be taken with regard to the future of the site and its impact on the local community.”

Glencore representatives were scheduled to meet with the EPA and local Montana officials in early July, he said, and that engagement “forms part of the formulation of the best future strategy for the site.”

Tester has expressed frustration with Glencore over the past year but continues to hope that the CFAC plant will restart. He and former Sen. Max Baucus worked hard to help Glencore secure a fair and equitable power contract offer from the Bonneville Power Administration for the smelter, but Glencore didn’t act. That and Glencore’s poor response to official inquiries doesn’t sit well with Tester.

“I’m not a big fan of Glencore at this point in my political career,” Tester told reporters on June 4.