Ad hoc group seeks official status

An unofficial committee formed to help the Lincoln County commissioners draft formal comments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed plan for the Libby Superfund site could become the community’s liaison to the agency during the design and implementation of the institutional controls piece of the agency’s plan for Libby.

The group, informally known as the Institutional Controls Steering Committee, met Wednesday, Sept. 16 to discuss the roles and responsibilities of the group with relation to the county, state and federal agencies involved in the Superfund site. Representatives from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, the Environmental Protection Agency, agency contractor CDM Smith and the Lincoln County Asbestos Resource Program attended Wednesday’s meeting, along with committee meeting. The committee members present were Lincoln County Commissioner Mark Peck, Libby City Councilman Brent Teske, Tim Lindsey, Kirby Maki and Gordon Sullivan.

The group, initially formed to help draft comments to the agency, is now focused on obtaining official sanction from the county government and working with the community and the government agencies to design institutional controls for the site following the end of the active clean-up, estimated to occur within the next three to five years.

The agency, in the proposed plan, suggested a list of possible institutional controls ranging from information and outreach programs to permitting and property disclosure requirements. The proposed controls were, in the words of agency project manager Rebecca Thomas, “intentionally vague.” She said the intent was to provide some very broad outlines and develop the more formalized controls during the design phase of the project, after the final record of decision is released.

Thomas said the flexibility is necessary in order to develop controls that work for the community and a record of decision is very difficult to amend or alter after it is entered in the federal register. Community participation and acceptance, she said, are vital components of effective institutional controls programs.

“Without community buy-in these things won’t work,” she said. “They have to be customized and tailored for the community.”

The group discussed two primary issues related to the development of institutional controls in Libby: funding and participation.

Thomas said participation in the Superfund project has been waning for years, referencing public meetings in which very few, or no, members of the public attend. Of the roughly 8,000 properties contained within the Superfund boundaries, there are still roughly 700 properties on which the owners have not provided permission to conduct an inspection. EPA agents and contractors are forbidden from entering properties without the owners’ permission.

The group discussed a variety of ways to encourage increased participation in the inspection and active clean-up process, including a more robust community outreach strategy coming from members of the community instead of agency representatives.

“Between EPA, CDM Smith and even the Army Corps of Engineers, we feel like we’ve done everything we can to reach these property owners,” Thomas said.

Thomas said the agency, as well as the contractor and the Lincoln County Asbestos Resource Program have mounted a long and wide-reaching public outreach campaign, including mail pieces, door hangers, registered mail and even door-knocking in some areas in order to reach the holdouts. 

The second issue discussed by the group was funding for the ongoing program after the active clean-up is completed. 

The W.R. Grace settlement resulted in the creation of a trust account, now valued at roughly $11.8 million, for the operation and maintenance part of the clean-up. A bill passed by Sen. Chas Vincent of Libby during the last legislative session could also result in as much as $600,000 per year being steered toward the ongoing operation, but that is dependent upon the legislature appropriating the money each session, so the funding is not guaranteed. Under the terms of Superfund law, once the agency completes the active phase, ongoing operations become the responsibility of the state and the state can decide to push some of those costs onto the county and its residents.

The bigger funding question was the uncertainty of how much the ongoing controls are going to cost. Without detailed plans, there is no way to accurately predict the costs and how they will be distributed between the county and the residents.

If the city and county adopt restrictions or permit requirements, who is on the hook to pay for the administration of the program? Are homeowners who failed to participate in the program liable for future clean-up costs on their property if Libby amphibole asbestos is discovered? What about asbestos left in place, especially inside homes and buildings in the area, who is responsible for the cost of cleaning those areas in the event of a remodel or demolition project or in the case of a building destroyed by fire?

The specific requirements of the institutional controls will not be included in the agency’s final record of decision, which is expected later this year. Instead, Thomas has repeatedly stated the agency’s commitment to public involvement in the design process. During the design phase, she said, the details of each proposed control would be flushed out, especially the costs and responsibilities.

The next step, the group decided, would be to move the group from informal to officially sanctioned, which will require action on the part of the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners. The City-County Health Board would also be involved in the process.

Montana Department of Environmental Quality project manager Lisa DeWitt said the committee is a good way to involve the community in the design process.

“It is imperative that the community be involved,” she said. “I think the institutional controls steering committee is great in that respect.”