Russ Forba, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's project manager for the Milltown Superfund cleanup, said the gas line's exposure was not a surprise. It was discovered during a routine check last Thursday.
“We knew it was there, and it really was just a matter of time,” Forba said Monday. “The company has been involved all along, and they knew that at some point it would have to be relocated.”
Since the Milltown Dam was breached last month, the Blackfoot River has been scouring its bed, cutting through layers of sediment toward the alluvium, where the pipe sat.
“It's cut to different depths in different places, but it's probably cut through 3 to 4 feet in a lot of places,” Forba said.
Both the power company and the EPA believe it's important to get the line, which is still moving gas, buried deeper before runoff begins in earnest on the Blackfoot, he said. “It's not endangered now, but we do want it moved.”
NorthWestern has submitted a plan for the work to the EPA, and Forba said it's possible the company could get started as early as Wednesday.
The EPA has run computer models on the scouring the free-flowing river will likely accomplish, Forba said, and the line will be buried at least a half-dozen feet below that level.
“We just want to make sure we get it done before we get some high flows going,” Forba said.
Reporter Michael Moore can be reached at 523-5252 or at mmoore@missoulian.com.
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