EPA nears risk assessment

A final Risk Assessment of Libby Amphibole Asbestos for those living in Libby appears a bit closer after the Libby Team Leader for the EPA said the analysis should be “within a year.”

Victor Ketellapper, the Libby Team Leader for the EPA and the top-ranking official in Libby at the time, told Lincoln County Commissioners last Wednesday the Risk Assessment is within reach.

“We do not have all the toxicity values (necessary), but when we do there will be a Risk Assessment, probably within a year.”

Ketellapper made the statement during the monthly meeting with Commissioners.

Ketallapper is not a regular attendee, but he does attend the Commissioners meeting about once a quarter, and Wednesday he was the bearer of good news.

Ketellapper said the EPA is awaiting toxicity levels — standards — by the Science Advisory Board to determine what levels of Libby Amphibole Asbestos are tolerable.

“They (SAB) met in February, and it will take up to six months to get the reports, so then we hope to digest and respond to it. We’re hopeful to have (Risk Assessment) in about a year,” he said.

In 1978, Congress established the Science Advisory Board and gave it a broad mandate to advise the Agency on technical matters. The SAB’s principal mission includes:

• Reviewing the quality and relevance of the scientific and technical information being used or proposed as the basis for Agency regulations;

• Reviewing research programs and the technical basis of applied programs;

• Reviewing generic approaches to regulatory science, including guidelines governing the use of scientific and technical information in regulatory decisions, and critiquing such analytic methods as mathematical modeling;

• Advising the EPA on broad scientific matters in science, technology, social and economic issues, and

• Advising the agency on emergency and other short-notice programs.

During that meeting, Lincoln County Presiding Commissioner Marianne Roose once again took the opportunity to voice her displeasure that local physician Dr. Brad Black was not selected as a member of the SAB.

“I still do not believe Dr. Black was excluded,” she said.

The Risk Assessment is an integral document that will establish what levels of Libby Amphibole Asbestos (LAA) are tolerable.

“The main thing is it will establish the potential risk to the community,” Ketellaper said. “It will establish whether added cleanup is needed and where our additional focus will need to be.”

Ketellapper said life for Libby residents already has gotten better.

“I think things have improved significantly already,” he said. “It’s been a long road.”

EPA officials announced the annual Libby Public Meeting is schedule for Tuesday, May 8, at the Ponderosa Room at City Hall. The meeting is scheduled from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.