Darby denies well to proposed lodge

DEQ has concerns on negative impacts of proposed irrigation well 

by Michael Howell

Last week the Darby Town Council denied a request for an irrigation well to serve the property where Brooks Pace plans to build a 130-unit lodge on property recently annexed into the Town.

Asked about the council’s decision, Mayor Nancy McKinney said that irrigation wells were not allowed in town. She said when the municipal code concerning wells in town was adopted, existing wells were grandfathered in but no new wells would be allowed without special permission of the Town Council. She said in this case, there were concerns about the potential negative impacts of the proposed well on the Town’s own well located only 300 feet away.

According to McKinney, the reason Pace gave for requesting the well was that using the town’s water system would be too expensive. “Mr. Pace has the ability to connect to city water and use it for what he wants and should be subject to the same fees as anybody else,” she said. “Mr. Pace said that the fees would cost him $8,000 annually, but he did not provide any information about how he came up with that calculation.” She said there were also concerns about the potential of the new well polluting the Town’s well and concerns that it might deplete the town’s water source.

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) also has concerns about potential negative impacts of installing a well on the property. Pace’s property, owned previously by the Stoddard Land Company, is part of the Superfund clean-up site associated with the old S&W Sawmill where the soil and the groundwater is polluted with dioxins and pentachloroethane.

International Paper is currently working with DEQ on a plan to clean up polluted soil on its property and address a related contaminated groundwater plume.

Pace contacted DEQ on November 8th, requesting its approval for an irrigation well to be drilled on his property. In an email to the Town on November 14, the same day as the latest Council meeting, State Superfund Project Officer Robert Roll noted that under Montana law a person who owns or operates a facility where a hazardous or deleterious substance was disposed of may be jointly and severally liable and that the current owner of a portion of the facility is a potentially liable person, but that the current owner has not been officially noticed as such, “However, if use of the proposed well resulted in a deleterious effect to human health or welfare or the environment, whether by shifting the groundwater plume or otherwise, DEQ would likely issue a notice…”

Roll stated that DEQ at this time is in the process of preparing a response to Pace’s request. “Based on the insufficient information currently provided by Mr. Pace, DEQ cannot make a determination whether this proposed irrigation well will affect the contaminated groundwater plume at the Facility.  Based on this lack of information, DEQ’s response will notify Mr. Pace that it does not intend to provide its permission to install this well at this time,” wrote Rolls.

Rolls told the Bitterroot Star that the response to Pace they were preparing would include guidance regarding the information that DEQ would require to make the determination. He said with that additional information, DEQ will evaluate, to the best of its ability, whether the proposed irrigation well can, or cannot, be installed on the S&W Facility property. 

According to Rolls, based on data collected to date, the contaminated groundwater plume is primarily located under the property owned by the International Paper Company located north of Pace’s property and is moving in a northerly direction. He said it extends across the highway to other property to the east that is also owned by the company and that they are monitoring drinking wells on other properties in the area.

The agency is currently working with the company on a clean-up plan. He said the company did a solidification and stabilization study and removed some contaminated soils from the site that were disposed of at the Missoula landfill. He said those laboratory results have been incorporated into a working plan and feasibility study aimed at producing options for further clean-up on the Superfund site. That final report is expected to be submitted sometime next year. DEQ will then review the report, identifying its own preferred remedies and produce its own plan. That plan will be released for public comment and then finalized in a Record of Decision.

Rolls said that analysis of the soils on Pace’s property are less contaminated than on the International Paper property and have been approved for commercial/industrial development but would not be approved for residential development without some sort of clean-up. The bar, casino and hotel planned by Pace are considered commercial/industrial use. He said that the contaminated ground water plume has been tracked moving to the northeast, north and northwest from the IP property and away from Pace’s property to the south. However, the agency has concerns that a new well could potentially draw

the plume in that direction.

“But right now,” said Rolls, “we don’t have enough information if a well would affect the plume and possibly draw it in that direction. DEQ needs the information to help determine if a well might exacerbate it.” He said that DEQ was working on a response to Pace that will help guide him in what might be needed in terms of potential pump testing or groundwater monitoring that could allay these concerns.

Pace said that he has a plan that was already approved and authorized to build a 230-unit lodge on his property but it doesn’t leave room for any landscaping. He said that the number of units he is considering now is down to 130 units in order to provide for landscaping. He said he has already planted some trees and would like to add a 3- to 4-acre lawn in front of the lodge for kids to play on.

“I wouldn’t stop people who came to get a Coca-Cola from letting their kids play in the park,” he said. “I wouldn’t want them to come and drop their kids off. They can sit in the park and don’t even need to buy a Coca-Cola from me. I wanted it to be a gift for the Town.” He said he also had plans for a swimming pool and would have a set time period in the day when the school could use it.

Pace said that DEQ was OK with the project, “and I think they will probably be OK with the well. If they aren’t, I’ll be OK with that.”

Pace said his estimate of the cost of using town water for irrigation was based on the Town’s water fees. He said at the current rate of $2.00 per 1,000 gallons, using a 24 gallon per minute pump it would add up to about $8,000 in the summer.

“They may think I’m wealthy, but I live close to the bone,” said Pace. “I just like doing projects.”