MISSOULA - American Rivers released their top ten list of endangered rivers in the United States on Tuesday and coming in at number five is the Clark Fork River.
The threat to the Clark Fork is in direct relation to the former Smurfit-Stone Pulp Mill in Frenchtown that sent toxic contaminants into the river beginning in 1957.
Even when the mill closed in 2010, the damage to the river continued.
There are unlined sludge ponds and waste dumps that allow toxins to seep into the groundwater and harm the fish and wildlife.
The toxins would spread into the water and wreak havoc for hundreds of miles if the Clark Fork River floods the area.
The Clark Fork Coalition and American Rivers are calling upon the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to no longer delay cleaning the hazardous site.
“There's you know, an acutely problematic portion of that site -- 140 acres, where there are landfills, waste dumps, sludge ponds, that store an awful lot of industrial toxic chemicals and those come into contact with groundwater that flows to the river. So, our thinking is, there's no amount of data that could convince any of us, could convince our communities, that those waste dumps should just stay there. We need to get them cleaned up, we know that. So, we've been asking EPA, calling on EPA to get going with that now." - Clark Fork Coalition executive director Karen Knudsen
There is a bill being brought before the Montana legislature on Wednesday requesting a further study on the effects of the Smurfit-Stone Mill. But for right now, the only action is non-action by anglers.
Due to human health concerns, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks issued a warning to anglers against eating any fish caught from the Clark Fork 100 miles downstream of the mill.
