1)      Meeting began at approximately 7:08pm

2)      Introductions

 

3)      Meeting minutes for review and approval.

a)      March 11^th, 2008 Regular board meeting minutes were reviewed.

i)        LeRoy Thom made the motion to accept the minutes as written, Eileen Carney second the motion, motion unanimously passed.

b)      Special meeting minutes (from March 18^th and 25^th) were not reviewed as LATAG was “hosting” the meeting for the community.

 

4)      Treasurer’s Report:

a)      The Treasurer reported that all reimbursements have been paid up to date and the current grant balance remaining is $35,099.29.

5)      Old Business – due to time constraints this was not covered.

6)      EPA Report:

a)      EPA invited their attorney (Matt Cohn) in case there were more questions regarding the $250 millions settlement between W.R. Grace and EPA. The funds [if approved] will go into a special account.

i)        Matt gave another overview of the settlement. The settlement needs to be in the best of public interest. If the judgment is “no”, there will be no control for other considerations. If the judgment is “yes” monies will be due to EPA within 30 days. The money will be put into a special account of Superfund minus the $11 million for O&M. Superfund monies will gain a current market rate interest rate, last year the rate was 5%, current rate is 4.2%. These monies (minus O&M) will be used to pay for past and future funds with future response paid now. If there are monies remaining they will go towards past expenses.

ii)       The settlement does not determine what is dictated for the Libby residences regarding the cleanup, the ROD will dictate actions needed for the cleanup. The ROD is a key document what determines what is done and how much is needed to clean up.

iii)     It was asked how Libby can get the reassurances that the money is used only for Libby. The response was the special accounts have specific rules with separate accounting. Monies will be spent according to the settlement agreement. Once the cleanup is fully done and O&M is completed the monies left over will be reclassified to other superfunds or returned without any special allocations to EPA. The local EPA team makes this decision when that time comes. It was commented on by EPA that they expect $250 million to cover all remaining costs but they need a ROD to be sure.

iv)     Construction begins today (April 8^th, 2008) for the cleanup season. Three contracts were awarded for the clean up.

b)      The contamination found:

i)        At Asa Woods School included three flakes of vermiculite with more found. Moving the old swing sets might have brought the material up. Pathways on the playground were check without finding any material. Verification sampling will be done in the fall of 2008. We (EPA) won’t find all the vermiculite but if/when it is found there will be a quick response. Training with the children is paying off, this is a very important action and it is a good thing to be done.

(1)   EPA did visual sampling of the playground with soil sampling done in the fall and ambient air sampling. EPA will continue their methodical plan on re-sampling of the schools.

ii)       It might be possible to find vermiculite at the skating rink(s) after the past cleanup, the remnants were hauled off and no obvious source material is found.

7)      DEQ Report

8)      Technical Advisor Report – no report

9)      Sub-Committee Reports

a)      Communications Committee – Phillip Erquiaga (chairperson)

i)        A response was produced regarding the special meetings and the community response to the EPA and W.R. Grace settlement. Signatures are being acquired and currently there are 300-400 signatures already.

ii)       There will be a meeting with the County Commissioners tomorrow (April 9th, 2008) with Matt Cohn (EPA) with public comments after the meeting.

iii)     Phillip’s name is on the community response document only because LATAG hosted the meetings and should be used only as a contact name.

b)      Health/Safety Committee – Alvin Benitz/Nancy Hogan (co-chairs)

i)        Alvin is needed a “job description” since he has been unable to contact Abe Troyer. Paul Lammers (CDM) offered to work with Alvin and provide past safety reports. Paul Peronard offered the past two quarterly safety reports to Alvin (ACTION ITEM).

c)      Nomination Committee – Helen Andries (chairperson)

i)        No Report

d)      O&M Attendance Committee - Mike Noble/LeRoy Thom (co-chairs)

i)        No attendance from LATAG at the previous meeting.

ii)       Paul Peronard reported that O&M is currently working on the draft document for the export plant. They plan on continuing this work at their next meeting, tomorrow April 9^th, 2008 at 8:00a.m.

iii)     Mike Cirian reported that last month’s O&M it was discussed who will take over the ERS position.

e)      Technical Advisor Committee – Dr. Brad Black (chairperson)

i)        A toxicity study should be available including notes from the January 2008 meeting in Denver (ACTION ITEM).

10)   New Business

a)      Update on the upcoming mining convention is needed.

b)      Troy Meeting on April 29^th, 2008 at 7:00pm in Troy

 

11)   Action Items

a)      Last two quarterly reports on safety to Alvin Benitz

b)      Notes from the January 2008 Denver meeting are needed.

c)      EPA statutes to Nancy Hogan

12)   Next Regularly Scheduled LATAG meeting May 6^th, 2008.

 

13)   Adjourn:

a)      JoElyn Brus made the motion to adjourn, LeRoy Thom second the motion, motion unanimously passed.

Meeting adjourned at approximately 9:00pm.