Draft Minutes, HMRC May 2, 2003

The Committee met in the Library. Present were Blake Trask, Brian Smith, John Martinak, Shaheeda Pierce, Rita Schenck, Nan Hammett, Anne Moses, Dan Schueler from the community and Bonnie Meyer from King County.

The Agenda and minutes were approved with minor modifications.

IRPPC's consultant did not forward the results of the attendee survey before this meeting, but we shared our impressions of the meeting. By May's count 104 people attended. Oral feedback was generally positive. Some of the comments included:

• Shaheeda's moderation was clear
• Rita's presentation was clear
• Childcare was really important
• Paul Stamets was a draw for the meeting
• Several people tried to make donations to pay for the food

The committee also had come suggestions and observations of their own. There was a suggestion that a discussion at the end, bringing back speakers for a Q&A panel worked well at the previous symposium and the most recent one would have been strengthened by this. It would particularly have been useful to discuss the issue of double digging. It might also be useful to make clear what items the committee was endorsing. Filming of the speakers was impeded by their speaking at floor level rather than on the stage. The videographer was blocked by position of audience microphone, i.e., when an audience member came up and spoke, they were standing directly in front of the camera with their back to the camera. This may have affected the sound system as well. We will know better when the film is produced.

In summary, it was decided that future symposia should retain the childcare, bring back the panel discussion at the end, and provide a way for people to donate.

The remainder of the meeting was devoted to the next steps for the committee. We brainstormed some ideas both short term and longer term including:

• Education on treated wood
• Completion and dissemination of physicians information
• Identification of clean dirt sources
• Distribution of foxglove/medicinal tansy seeds
• Dockton Park Cleanup
• MD to teach class for medical practitioners (perhaps Andrew Weil)
• Encourage a public TV special (e.g. Bill Moyers)
• Coordinate an event for the Asthma Camp at Camp Burton (American Lung Association)
• Develop non-DoE funding
• Develop Research Plan
• Reprint medical info brochure for the general public
• Make more video copies
• Work with the Environmental Health Department at UW to do nutritional studies
• Write articles about the need for research and the cleanup needs at Dockton Park
• Continue the Pesticide/herbicide project and print results
• Partner with Brigham Young University at their facility on the South end.

Nan shared with us that IRPPC needs to spend $23K by the end of June. Specific items for IRPPC to investigate included:

1) Purchase foxglove seeds and create packets with a handout that describes how to plant, harvest, and dispose of the plants.

2) Reprint heavy metal health brochure (1,000 copies) and distribute throughout the year to various health offices on the island.

3) Print handouts on CCA treated lumber as well as handouts on fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides.

4) Make more copies of the symposium video tape for wider and more effective distribution ( May and Dan will view the final version, and based on the quality of the video, May and Dan will decide how many additional copies to request).

5) Have additional articles written and published in island newspapers. One theme suggested addressed island "needs", such as cleaning up Dockton Park soils (Shaheeda has been trying to get this issue addressed but hasn't received any responses from those she has contacted).

6) Research for testing food grown in island gardens. Rita said she would be happy to begin designing such a research project between now and June 30th if she could be funded.

7) Materials that could contribute to outreach, such as a computer projector and even extension cords ( we had some trouble with available extension cords during the symposium).

No major conclusions were made. Nan will inquire of DoE which items they might support.

Brian will contact the BYU people.

Brian raised the possibility that using foxglove (or other plant) for phytoremediation might be less than desirable because the full biogeochemistry of the plants/metals have not been studied in detail.

We raised the issue of distribution of information and who should be receiving what. After some discussion, there was agreement that there were three groups of people who needed to receive communications.

1. The active members of the committee, who are interested in and want to see everything. These should receive all documents.
2. A larger group, including formerly active committee members, members of government agencies and other interested parties, who should receive only the documents that the committee has finalized (e.g. final minutes, not draft minutes)
3. A much larger group of people who will occasionally (a few times a year) want to know about things such as upcoming symposia or important outreach efforts.

Rita agreed to take the list of attendees to the symposium, make an electronic list and ask them if they were willing to be on this third list.

Our next meeting is planned for June 6, 2003 at 3 pm in the Library.

Respectfully submitted

Rita Schenck