What is CFRTAC?

The Clark Fork River Technical Assistance Committee (CFRTAC) is a diverse group of Western Montanans who have volunteered to work with the EPA, the responsible party(ies), and others to try to make the Superfund process and cleanup options understandable for all. Technical assistance committees are established under Superfund to provide technical assistance to local communities in areas in and around Superfund sites. Currently, there are more than 850 CFRTAC members. It's a diverse group of individuals from all walks of life.

> Board Members

The easiest way to understand the role of a technical assistance committee in Superfund is to think of a triangle with a represented party at each point. In the instance of the Clark Fork Superfund process, the EPA represents the federal government (all citizens), Arco represents its own and its investors' interests as the party responsible for the site, and CFRTAC represents the interests of the local community (residents from Butte through Missoula). The goal is for all three parties - U.S. citizens at large (EPA), Arco, and local citizens to have input into and impact on the EPA's decisions regarding cleanup.

Our specific charge from the EPA is to hire independent scientific experts to review documents on behalf of the local community. Once that portion of our role has been completed, we are to inform the public by making available government studies, Arco studies, and our own independent studies about contaminants in the river and their various impacts, and to promote public involvement in the Superfund process. We are also to inform local citizens about cleanup activities, meetings and how to contact those involved in the work.

CFRTAC's review, science and public information efforts are funded by the Technical Assistance Grant program. This program was created by the federal government in 1986 to help promote public involvement in the Superfund process at the local level. Through this program, CFRTAC is allowed to apply for grants. Grants are funded through the EPA by the party responsible for the site (in this instance, Arco).

CFRTAC operates separate from Arco or the EPA. We are an independent group of citizens working on behalf of local residents, ensuring the communities most affected by the EPA's decisions have access to objective information. Our mission is to present that information so that basin residents can reach informed opinions and make those opinions known. In addition, CFRTAC can question or criticize the methods, findings and conclusions of Arco and/or the EPA.

To date, CFRTAC has been working on the Clark Fork Superfund project for more than 15 years. We've reviewed literally hundreds of thousands of pages of scientific data from a variety of sources, including Arco, the EPA, environmental groups and independent scientists, and condensed them into our comments. We have produced studies on aquatic and human health impacts. And now we're making our findings and the findings of others publicly accessible.

Our public information efforts include our meetings, the CFRTAC newsletter, this website, awareness advertising, and an editorial on Montana Evening Edition the third Thursday of each month at 5:50 p.m.

If you have questions regarding CFRTAC's role or would like to comment directly to us, please attend one of our meetings. All are open to the public, and we'd be happy to field questions. You can also write us at P.O. 9086, Missoula, MT 59807.