EPA Asbestos Response to Montgomery CAG
March 12, 2008, Montgomery, Pennsylvania - The EPA responded this week to concerns and comments from a Community Action Group about the BoRit asbestos site in Ambler.
Larry Johnson, an EPA Community Involvement Coordinator working with the action group, emphasized the importance of working with the community to remediate at the site, but the EPA has still given no details about when the project will begin, or how the remediation work will be carried out. However, Johnson does say that the EPA Region 3 group plans to incorporate the action group’s requests in their remediation plans.
The community group’s main concerns are asbestos removal, site monitoring, and stream bank stabilization. The EPA gave few details about how it plans to accomplish these requests.
A “responsive summary” issued by the EPA included only vague references to the federal environmental group’s plans for the site. EPA personnel, including on-scene coordinator Eduardo Rovira, say that the language used to describe the action plan is vague so that the EPA’s plans can be easily adapted according to the needs of the site, without having to get approval from headquarters for any changes made.
In addition, Larry Johnson has told the community that they will be kept informed of how the remediation project is proceeding, with regular online updates and an EPA representative on-site at weekly intervals to answer questions and talk about concerns the community may have.
The action group is already concerned about the EPA’s plans to remediate the site and carry out monitoring for one year to ensure the site’s safety. The action group strongly recommends a minimum monitoring period of five years, with testing of the site conducted at least annually.
According to Larry Johnson, that kind of monitoring is outside the bounds of remediation projects such as this one, which aren’t designed to carry out long-term monitoring of a site once it has been cleaned up.
Another action group concern is that the current remediation plan that is proposed for the site could hinder any future remediation attempts. On-scene coordinator Eduardo Rovira has responded to the concern by saying that the proposed plan is a permanent solution, and that future remediation work should not be needed.
The project cannot proceed, however, until headquarters signs on the paperwork. Jack Kelly, another on-scene coordinator for the BoRit site, says there should be no issue with getting approval for the project. Kelly further explained that the hold-up is mainly due to the fact that an asbestos site is involved, for which planning requires some extra care.
Once EPA approval has been granted, a public hearing will be scheduled to inform the public about what will happen. Work on the site can begin after the meeting has been held. The project is expected to take around one year to complete.
