Environmental Protection Agency officials this week announced that it expects Record of Decision documents for the former export plant and former screening plant sites to be issued by next month – soon enough to begin cleanups this construction season.

It’s a frustrating disclosure for some parties who have requested that the EPA issue an interim ROD or hold off altogether on any permanent decisions.

Official comments from entities such as the County/City Health Board, Libby City Council, Libby Area Technical Advisory Group and Citizens for a Healthy Community and Environmental Justice had stated that issuing a permanent ROD is premature considering that the toxicity of Libby asbestos has not yet been determined.

Sen. Jon Tester showed his agreement in a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson requesting that the agency hold off on permanent RODs for Operable Unit 1, the export plant, and Operable Unit 2, the screening plant.

“The decisions these RODs are formed upon dictate the future thresholds for how much scientific input is needed to make a binding decision,” reads Tester’s letter, dated two weeks ago. “Instead, I ask that you issue an interim ROD so that the work may continue and cleanup can proceed while leaving room for the ROD to be adjusted as future science dictates.”

Under the advice of attorney Allen Payne, the County/City Health Board had requested that the EPA issue an interim ROD, a compromise that would allow the agency to go through its established cleanup process, while still acknowledging that the areas must be re-examined when better science becomes available.

During Monday’s city council meeting, Libby Mayor Doug Roll restated that belief to Victor Ketellapper, EPA Libby Team Leader.

“I think we would still like to see an interim ROD. I think it’s critical,” Roll said. “I think our attorney has made it clear.”

Ketellapper said that although the EPA will define it as a ROD, the plan offers plenty of opportunities for re-evaluation. For example, the EPA is looking at performing a post-construction risk assessment.

“After the cleanup is done we would go back and sample that to activity-based sampling to validate that we’ve achieved our goals there,” he said. “If there’s any opportunity based on that sampling that says that something was missed, we would at that point reopen the Record of Decision.”

He also mentioned that RODs have mandatory five-year reviews in which they may be changed. However, Payne has pointed out in past County/City Health Board meetings that, in his experience, the EPA is reluctant to open a permanent ROD.

The draft Records of Decision are currently in the hands of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, which are reviewing the EPA’s responses to public comments. Once the first ROD is issued, the cleanup design can be created and construction can begin, Ketellapper said.