The first residential development inside the boundaries of the Columbia Falls Aluminium Company Superfund site is underway, a milestone that drew Gov. Greg Gianforte and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to the northwest Montana site this week for a joint press conference touting both the cleanup progress and the economic redevelopment potential of the 78-acre property.
Developer Mick Ruis is leading the new subdivision project on land that has sat idle since the aluminum plant closed in 2009. The plant's legacy left behind significant contamination, landing it on the federal Superfund list and triggering years of EPA-led cleanup work. That remediation work, officials said this week, has advanced far enough to allow residential construction to move forward on portions of the site.
Gianforte and Zeldin used the visit to highlight what they framed as a model for balancing environmental cleanup with economic reuse — a talking point that fits neatly into the current federal administration's posture toward Superfund sites nationally. The Columbia Falls site is one of the more prominent active Superfund cases in Montana, and the involvement of a sitting governor and EPA administrator signals its continued political visibility.
For the Flathead Valley community, the subdivision represents a concrete sign that the long cleanup process is producing usable land. Whether the development proceeds on schedule and whether remaining contamination questions are fully resolved will determine how much of a success story Columbia Falls ultimately becomes.