Peronard brings experience, skills back to Libby

By GWEN ALBERS Western News Reporter

Just days after returning to Libby, Paul Peronard said he feels comfortable with the progress of the multi-million dollar asbestos cleanup.

Peronard, who on Aug. 1 took over as team leader for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund project here, also stressed the importance of doing a long-term assessment of the cleanup.

"This is a project I became vested in and I'm anxious to see how it will go," he said. "This isn't an easy project to work on, but we owe it to the folks here to do a good job. I hope I can hold up that end."

When the EPA in 1999 determined W.R. Grace from the early 1960s to 1990 exposed the community to asbestos-contaminating vermiculite that was mined and milled here, Peronard was the agency's first emergency on-scene coordinator. He remained here until 2002, helping with the cleanup of asbestos, which has inflicted about 2,000 people and killed more than 200 from related diseases.

After team leader Jim Christiansen resigned from the EPA last October, the agency asked Peronard to return to Libby.

"He's someone with very strong leadership skills who could lead us through the most complex Superfund site that we have," said Bert Garcia, director for the Superfund Remedial Program in Denver. "Paul brings the attributes we need. He knows the site, has been there before and understands the technical issues."

Garcia said Peronard also has ideas to get through issues and he "meshes" well with the public.

"The last thing is he has broad experience in dealing with policies, budgets and politics," Garcia said. "We never dealt with this kind of asbestos before and we don't have good risk models."

Peronard says the cleanup of homes is about half complete, and things are "going really well."

"We have 700 homes cleaned up," he said. "As a result, the risks are substantially lower than what they were in 1999. Things are better here than they were five years ago."

One of the issues he expects to face is "how clean is clean and when is it enough."

People have expressed concerns about vermiculite left in walls, carpets left in homes, and what happens when vermiculite is found after the cleanup's completion.

"We're still working to find that right balance . . . and how we will manage that and how we will take care of that in the future," Peronard said. "We decided to leave the stuff in the walls and leave the carpets. We need to go back and make sure we made a good decision. We need to do a long-term assessment."

Peronard, who has a background in engineering, has worked for 20 years on hazardous waste cleanups for the EPA. Libby has been the most extensive project.

"Libby is extensive at a lot of different levels," he said. "It's a big site. It covers almost the entire town. The medical impact is extensive. There's also a lot of technical issues."

As part of the cleanup, the EPA screened 3,500 properties in Libby, built an asbestos cell at the county landfill and addressed the worst areas first.

The EPA will spend $17 million on the cleanup this year and nearly $20 million in 2007.

The EPA will have to issue a final record of decision on the proposed cleanup plan for the Superfund site based on questions of toxicity, cleanup protocols and implementation of the latest science.