The original completion date for the excavation phase of the Stimson Lumber Cooling Project has been extended due to the unexpected volume of concrete pads, footings and foundations, log cribbing, abandoned utility corridors, dumped debris as well as logs floated from the turn of the century.

A variety of debris recently began emerging from beneath the pond and adjacent areas of the site located in Bonner, Montana. Old photographs of the site reveal the presence of surface structures like buildings, crane pads, railroad tracks, etc. Sub-grade discoveries are proving these structures were present and will likely extend Envirocon’s estimated project completion date to spring 2011.

The project is considered one of the largest PCB cleanups ever attempted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Rocky Mountain Region. The east-west log ponds were originally built to accommodate floating logs that were either transported down the Blackfoot River or used as holding/treatment pond for logs going into the Stud Mill. In the early 1980’s, the pond became the repository for storm water and wastewater from the mill's boilers and was a dump site for PCB-laden fluids from heavy machinery and electrical transformers.

Envirocon began removal of PCB and EPH contaminated sediment from the former cooling/fire pond in early September 2010. However, as subsurface structures, old saw logs and other debris began turning up in the cooling pond alongside the Blackfoot River, the construction schedule has been extended along with the volume of debris material requiring management.

Once remediation of the cooling ponds is complete, Envirocon will re-construct the stream bed and 1,400 feet of Blackfoot River shoreline embankment including re-vegetation and native plant establishment.

For more information on the project visit http://www.epa.gov/region8/