EPA Meeting (with W.R. Grace) Unforgivable

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EPA meeting 'unforgivable' By Kathleen McLaughlin, of The Standard State Bureau HELENA -- A private meeting set this week between top U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and W.R. Grace and Co. officials is raising the hackles of Libby residents, who fear the company might adversely influence their fate. W.R. Grace executives will meet with EPA brass on Thursday in Washington, D.C., to discuss a regional EPA proposal to declare a public health emergency in Libby which could, for the first time, mark Grace's once popular Zonolite insulation as a hazardous product. Such a label carries potentially expensive national implications, as estimates say anywhere from 800,000 to 15 mil lion homes nationwide are insulated with Zonolite, which Grace stopped selling in 1980. Les Skramstad, a Libby asbestosis victim, said he's appalled that the public won't be allowed into the meeting at EPA headquarters and he doesn't trust what might happen between the company and the Bush administration. `` I think it's a dirty, underhanded thing to do, not only to us in Libby, but probably to everybody on the planet,'' said Skramstad. `` It's unforgivable.'' If the meeting were open to public, said Skramstad, `` At least it would be aboveboard. It wouldn't be so sneaky.'' Gayla Benefield, a victims' advocate in Libby, said Libby's asbestosis sufferers have seen too many private dealings between Grace and government officials in years past. `` I'm tired of these secret meetings deciding our fate,'' said Benefield. `` We've been through that in the state of Montana and we're finally beyond it.'' `` There are a lot of people in the United States whose lives could depend on what happens her in Libby,'' she added. Benefield said, however, she is somewhat more comfortable with the meeting because the EPA's regional team will be involved in the meeting via telephone from Denver. Had the EPA's Region 8 not been included at the meeting, Benefield and Skramstad were prepared to travel to Washington and mount a protest at EPA headquarters. But officials from the EPA and W.R. Grace and Co. insist there is nothing sinister about the planned meeting, which Grace requested. Both sides characterized it as a listening session, so it's not clear who will be doing most of the talking. A Grace official said the company wants clear details about the health-emergency proposal and its potential impacts. A top EPA official said the agency intends to listen to the company's concerns. The intent of the proposed public health emergency declaration is to allow the EPA to remove Zonolite from Libby homes as part of its asbestos cleanup efforts. The declaration would essential ly mark Libby's as a special case, but the Bush administration will have to decide whether to take the leap of labeling Zonolite as dangerous. `` We need to hear their side of the story,'' said Bill Corcoran, W.R. Grace and Co vice president for public and regulatory affairs. `` I don't think anybody's heard it yet.'' Corcoran said Grace officials asked for the meeting, `` So we could understand the science and understand some of the things we are read ing in the press.'' Tom Sheckells, director of the EPA headquarters response center that oversees the region that includes Montana, said he wants to reassure the people of Libby that the meeting on Thursday is not one in which the agency intends to make an under-the-table deal with Grace. `` It's anything but a small meeting where Grace could come in and try to sway the day with one person in headquarters,'' said Sheckells. Still, Sheckells balked when asked if a reporter could listen in on the meeting. `` No, I don't think that would be appropriate,'' he said. `` This is not anything extraordinary,'' Sheckells added. `` Generally, when a responsible party, a stakeholder, asks for a meeting with the agency, we will meet with them.'' Several EPA officers will be at the meeting, and the regional officials who deal directly with Libby and wrote the emergency proposal will attend via telephone. Corcoran said it's likely four officials from W.R. Grace and Co. will be there as well. Late last month, Gov. Judy Martz announced her support to fast-track the EPA's listing of Libby and the old vermiculite mine as Superfund sites. In her letter, the Republican governor specifically asked for a firm timeline on the cleanup of no more than three years. Removing Zonolite from an estimated 800 or so homes and buildings in Libby would likely be a major part of the cleanup, if the emergency declaration wins approval. Officials have estimated the cost of removing Zonolite could range from $3,000 to $20,000 per building, depending on the extent of contamination. Sheckells said there's no explicit deadline for an EPA decision on the matter, but it will come sooner rather than later. `` Obviously, we want to take advantage of this construction season,'' he said. http://www.mtstandard.com/newsregional/1region.html