Draft Meeting Minutes for Heavy Metals Remediation Committee (Formerly Arsenic and Lead Remediation Committee) November 2, 2001

Present at the meeting were and May Gerstle, Bob Cichowski, Lee Miller, Lyman Houghton, Steve Macdonald, Dennis Saunders, Rita Schenck, Shaheeda Pierce and Devon Atkins from the Vashon-Maury Island Community, Hilary Dominguez of Public Health-Seattle King County, and Frank Peryea, of WSU.

The minutes were read and approved with modifications.

The Agenda was approved.

There was some discussion of the draft ground rules. It was suggested that we should re-name ourselves the Heavy Metals Remediation Committee, in light of the cadmium and other heavy metals besides arsenic and lead that are a problem here as a result of the Tacoma Smelter Plume. After some discussion, this change was adopted unanimously; May will take the suggestion forward to the Community Council.

There was some discussion about when we should elect our officers, i.e. at this meeting or another one. The arguments for elections today included setting the precedent for fixing the annual administration review and elections of the committee for a single date, and the desire to have the voting done prior to the Community Council end-of-year review, while the arguments against were that elections ought to be noticed. A vote was taken and the decision was made to vote at this meeting, the Vote was 5 for, 1 against and two abstentions.

The ground rules were approved with modifications, those modifications being that elections and administrative review should occur annually in November, and that the name of the committee should be changed to the Heavy Metals Remediation Committee.

The floor was opened for nominations of chair. Shaheeda nominated May; Steve nominated Jim. A secret ballot was taken, and the vote was 6 for May and one abstention. The floor was nominated for vice chair. Rita nominated Lyman and Dennis nominated Jim. The secret ballot showed 5 for Lyman, 1 for Jim and 1 abstention.

There was a discussion of the sub-committees. Steve had provided a listing of the committees and the projects under each of them, pursuant to our decisions last month, and this was the basis of the discussion. After extensive discussion it was decided that the Liaison and Partnerships sub-committees should be combined, with joint chairmanship to be shared between Jim and Lyman. It was suggested that a funding sub-committee be formed to support the activities of the committee, but this suggestion did not pass. The remaining sub-committees and their chairs are: Research (Rita); Information (May); and Action (Shaheeda). All subcommittee chairs are tasked to define their activities and timelines, to be shared at our next meeting.

The agricultural survey is complete. The Research committee will coordinate getting Sylvia Kantor the comments she needs for analysis.

As a follow-up to our meeting with our legislators, we need to draft legislation to assure funds flow to community remediation and to support the research needs (agricultural and phytoremediation and wildlife protection) for the Island. Shaheeda, Rita and Lyman will work on this project and share it electronically for others’ inputs. The draft of the legislation need not be polished, since our legislators have promised us help to assure that all necessary legal requirements are met.

Steve gave us an update on IRPPC. The IRPPC board has decided not to pursue other funding sources than the Ecology grant, but they are willing to re-consider that stance. The Ecology grant has not gone through, largely because of clauses that essentially censor what IRPPC can spend the money on and can publish after any work is done. The contract continues to be under review.

Hilary spoke briefly about Public Health King County’s plans for outreach. It was suggested that they work with VIGA to get more input.

Frank Peryea spoke briefly about his own separate efforts to obtain funding through the USDA and about new research (which confirms and extends the old research) about how to farm in order to minimize arsenic and lead uptake. Specifically, he suggested that adding compost was a positive, while adding lime and phosphate was a negative thing to do. Frank provided some abstracts from a recent conference on biogeochemistry of heavy metals, which Rita will share on demand.

Respectfully submitted,

Rita Schenck

AGENDA

3:30-3:35?Opening Remarks & Welcome

3:35-3:40?Approve Oct. mtg. minutes

3:40-3:45?Approve or amend agenda

3:45 -4:15 ?Vote on ALRC Ground rules

Develop ALRC Workplan---prioritize all items and assign tasks (look at Steve/Jim's list)

Discuss Fundraising, drafting legislation

4:15-4:30?Ecology issues---next steps following up on mtg. with legislators

4:30-4:40?Public Health Issues/Items---Hillary---status of Ag Survey

4:40-4:50?IRPPC Update----Steve

4:50-5:00?Other business, ADJOURN

Next ALRC meeting: Friday, Dec. 7, 3:30 @ Vashon Library

Next IRPPC meeting Thurs. Dec. 6, 7:15 PM @ Chamber