EPA winding up 2015 construction

The Environmental Protection Agency established a goal of conducting 80 property remediation projects during the 2015 construction season, which is winding to a close as temperatures drop in the Libby area. As of Oct. 15, on-site project manager Mike Cirian said his crews are on pace to complete 103 clean-ups before calling an end to the season’s work.

“As long as the weather holds, we’re going to keep working on smaller projects,” Cirian said. “We’ll be doing alleys and other small jobs that won’t have to be left open if the weather changes on us.”

Cirian said a number of changes taking place within the Superfund project have helped increase public participation in the clean-up. One of the major changes has been the change from an all-or-nothing approach to a more flexible clean-up based upon the agency’s determination that up to 25 percent of a property can be left alone if the amount of Libby amphibole asbestos detected is at trace levels or less. Based upon E.P.A.’s criteria, trace is considered  a detection of .2 percent or less.

“The 25 percent rule allows us a great deal of flexibility,” Cirian said. “It means we can leave certain parts of the property alone, if the level is determinted to be trace or less. We don’t have to remove everything if the property owner has a tree or garden or some other part of the property they want left alone, we can leave it alone.”

In addition to the property clean-ups, Cirian’s crews have completed more than 400 property inspections in 2015, and are hoping for that number to reach 500 before changes in the weather force them to stop for the season. He said there are approximately 800 properties left to be inspected within the boundaries of the Superfund site, but those are owned by people who have chosen not to allow the agency to inspect the properties.

“We are almost to the bottom of the barrel, as far as the people who will let us onto their property for inspections,” Cirian said.

Cirian estimated there are still between 200 and 300 properties requiring some level of remediation, or clean-up, work in the Libby area. That number includes about 80 properties from the 800 left to be inspected, since the agency estimates between seven and 10 percent of properties require cleanup. With 80 to 100 properties being cleaned each year, the agency could complete active clean-up operations in Libby within the next three to four years.

As the close-out date of the project draws nearer, Cirian said the agency is working with the Asbestos Resource Program and the Lincoln County government to push for more participation from the remaining property owners.

“We’re going to be making a big push at a last-call for inspections between January and July,” Cirian said. “We’re at a point where we have to finish these inspections up so we know how many properties we need to clean.”

The inspections not only help the agency plan, they also provide property owners with valuable information.

“The good point is that it gives you, as a property owner, the knowledge of what’s on your property so you can make an informed decision about how to proceed,” Cirian said. “Or it can give you peace of mind that you have nothing to worry about on your property.”

Cirian said this year brought a couple of highlights for the crews working on the clean-up.

First, the crews and contractor reached a milestone of more than 700,000 working hours without a lost-time accident. More than 110,000 of those hours were worked during the 2015 construction season.

Second, the agency hands every program participant, for properties both cleaned and inspected, a survey card to evaluate the performance of the crew. The surveys allow participants to rate the performance on a scale of one to four. On the scale, one represents very satisied, two is satisfied, three is somewhat unsatisfied and four is very unsatisfied. Cirian said the agency had a 40 percent return rate from the survey cards with an average score of 1.3.

“I’m very proud of that result,” Cirian said. “It took us a long time and a lot of work to get there.”

As the project close draws closer, the local economy is going to have to prepare for another loss as those jobs and contractors move elsewhere. Cirian acknowledged the difficulty the economic impact could create, but said the end of the project signals a potential turning point for the area.

“With what we’ve done here, we’ve cleaned up this community,” he said. “We’ve given it the opportunity to get beyond the tragedy and look to the future.”