Funding still uncertain for Asbestos Resource Program

Two months after the Libby Superfund site was transferred from federal to state oversight, much needed funding for the Lincoln County Asbestos Resource Program remains in flux.

The cooperative agreement and grant between the EPA and the Lincoln County Board of Health, which funded the ARP for the past two years, expired on July 1. The revenue stream dried up when the Montana Department of Environmental Quality assumed responsibility for maintaining the Superfund site. As of yet, the Lincoln County Board of Health and the DEQ have not finalized an agreement that would provide the ARP with future funding.

George Jameson, a member of the Libby Asbestos Superfund Oversight Committee, said the funds the state will allocate to the ARP should come from a cooperative agreement between the DEQ and the EPA. The additional layer of bureaucracy creates more uncertainty for local officials, as the ARP is not a party to the agreement between the state and federal agencies.

County Commissioner Mark Peck (D-1) said that local officials have tried in vain to get information from the EPA on the status of their deal with the DEQ.

“We sent in a [freedom of information act] request and that upset them,” Peck said.

The request, made by the health board attorney, would have revealed how much funding the ARP could receive from the agreement between the state and federal agencies. Peck said DEQ officials did not want to release the information because its connection to the superfund site made it proprietary. The EPA did not comply with the FOIA request.

In total, the DEQ will have access to about $12 million through the cooperative agreement with the EPA, according to the agency’s final operations and maintenance plan. Among other things, this money will help fund the ARP, even if the specific amount remains unknown.

While Peck said he expects the agreement between the state and federal agencies to be finalized soon, the two-month delay has upset the funding timeline for the program.

“We should be working on next year’s agreement and we still haven’t even got this one signed,” Peck said.

In the meantime, Peck said the county will continue to support the ARP. He hopes the deal between the DEQ and EPA will reimburse county funds put into the program.

“I don’t know what’s holding it up,” he said. “It’s just not a good way to do business.”

The ARP was created in 2012 with the mission of reducing exposure to asbestos in the Libby Superfund site. Program outreach has centered on keeping the public informed of the risks associated with asbestos contact and providing residents with best management practices and resources for reducing exposure.

With limited revenue, ARP officials said they will focus on using every dollar in a meaningful way. The program will continue providing its essential services, which include answering their hotline to respond to questions about the Superfund site and conducting property evaluations for asbestos contamination, according to Virginia Kocieda, ARP director.