U.S. Sen. Jon Tester says he is skeptical the shuttered Columbia Falls Aluminum Company plant will reopen after more than three years of trying to broker a power deal between owner Glencore and the Bonneville Power Administration.
Tester held a listening session Tuesday for Columbia Falls residents on the plant, which has been closed since 2009.
Tester and fellow Democratic U.S. Sen. Max Baucus sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency this month urging a study of contamination levels at the plant to determine whether it should be declared a Superfund site.
Tester says the study would help decide options rather than going "down this road of false hope."
CFAC spokesman Haley Beaudry says a Superfund declaration could make it very difficult to reopen the plant.