Health board takes action on contaminated house
Courtesy/Lincoln County A property located on Warland Creek Road has created concern among neighbors.
The neighbors have had enough.
Living next to a rundown shack with crumbling walls and visible vermiculite, folks on Warland Creek Road have become concerned about how the eyesore could be affecting their health.
Kathi Hooper, director of environmental health for Lincoln County, has listened to complaints from three residents who live very close to the structure at 1159 Warland Creek Road. On Wednesday afternoon during the first-ever meeting of the reorganized Lincoln County/City of Libby Health Board, the topic surfaced with Environmental Protection Agency officials on hand.
“What we’ve been told is this house is highly contaminated,” Lincoln County commissioner John Konzen said during the meeting, which had about 20 in attendance. “The house collapsed and is susceptible to winds, causing great concern for the neighbors.”
No problem, call in the EPA and use the agency’s authority under Libby Superfund Site status to take care of the problem, right? Not so fast … the property is located outside of the Superfund boundary.
Mike Cirian, EPA field leader based in Libby, said he has no authority to take action. He added that the homeowner – who lives in Virginia – would not allow the EPA onto the site.
Hooper has references to problems at the property site from 2002 when the EPA found vermiculite on the floors during a visual inspection. Problems were identified there even as early as the late 1990s. The property was fenced off in 2005, Cirian said, but that barrier is long gone.
Warland Creek Road is located off Highway 37 past Libby Dam between mile markers 25 and 26.
If the property was located within the Superfund Site boundaries, then Cirian would have the authority to take action in the interest of protecting human health.
As a result of the discussion, Lincoln County health officer Brad Black signed an abatement order in an attempt to get the property owner to take action. If he chooses not to, then the issue could end up in court.
“If it’s a public health risk, the county health officer has a right to go to court and make that happen,” said Alan Payne, EPA attorney.
Payne added that nine times out of 10, the property owner will respond if facing the prospect of a court order.
Cirian said that if his office receives a request from the health board to help with the cleanup, “then I think we can help you out.”
Besides that issue, the health board went over various topics that could be seen as typical for a first meeting. Several issues are currently on the table and the health board had already submitted a list of questions for the EPA to answer. The EPA said it would have those responses by Sept. 16.
Representatives from other groups were present, including Operations and Maintenance, the Community Advisory Group and the Technical Advisory Group. State Rep. Jerry Bennett was also on hand and Victor Ketellapper, EPA Libby team leader, sat in via conference call.