IsSzl West Lake Update prqIV^ December 5,2014 Future Community Engagement at the West Lake Landfill Superfund Site EPA Region 7 recently reviewed its engagement strategy for the West Lake Landfill Superfund Site. EPA's goal is to en- gage as many interested people as possible within our given resources. In addition to identifying new community stake- holders with whom Region 7 should communicate, EPA has reevaluated the level of effort it devotes to participation in regular Community Advisory Group (CAG) meetings. Over the past year, EPA Region 7 has actively engaged the CAG and its members by attending every CAG meet- ing, making multiple presentations, arranging for partner agencies to make presentations, and responding to oral and written questions. Audiences at CAG meetings have changed over time but typically include people living and working around the site and others not from the immedi- ately affected community, but who are interested in envi- ronmental and radiation issues. Concluding the review, EPA Region 7 has determined that our new engagement strategy will expand to include new community groups, businesses, and leaders. In most cases, these are individuals who have never or rarely at- tended the CAG meetings. EPA Region 7 believes that this more diverse engagement strategy will increase overall public understanding of the agency's efforts. Therefore, EPA will reduce its direct par- ticipation in the CAG meetings and instead allow the Tech- nical Assistance Services for Communities (TASC) contrac- tors to fulfill their intended role by providing independent analysis, review, and technical assistance to the community. Terrie Boguski is the lead TASC support contractor for the West Lake site, and her profile is featured in this edition of West Lake Update. The community can expect to see TASC representatives take a larger role in CAG meetings by providing presenta- tions, answering questions, and providing general technical assistance. EPA Region 7 will not send any representa- tives to the December 8 CAG meeting. Instead, a team of Region 7 personnel conducted meetings with various community groups in early December to engage a broader audience directly. This included meetings with CAG lead- ership, local environmental organizations, businesses, and community members—some of whom attend, and some who do not attend—CAG meetings. EPA Region 7's new community engagement strategy affirms the agency's commitment to fulfill its obligations to the community by providing comprehensive and ro- bust community engagement across a broader spectrum of stakeholders, in order to ensure that all members of the community have the opportunity to involve themselves in the Superfund process. Meet Terrie Boguski Terrie Boguski is a Senior Technical Analyst for Skeo Solutions, the environmental contractor providing inde- pendent technical assistance to communities on behalf of EPA. Terrie provides techni- cal assistance to communities with hazardous waste issues, particularly for communities with Superfund sites. Terries services include presenta- tions about the Superfund process, review of technical documents, presentations and environmental site assessment technologies. Terrie works with communities to understand their concerns and needs for education surrounding hazardous waste cleanups. She reviews technical documents and pre- pares summaries and fact sheets in easy-to-read language for community audiences, and verbally explains complicat- ed information in an understandable way, so that commu- nity members can better participate in conversations about the cleanup and voice their opinions. Terrie has 17 years of experience assisting communities in understanding site cleanups. In addition to the West Lake Landfill Site, Terrie has provided TASC services to the affected communities of the Midnite Mine Superfund Site near Spokane, Washington; the Homestake Mining Su- perfund Site near Milan, New Mexico; the Gratiot County Landfill Superfund Site in Gratiot County, Michigan; the Raritan Bay Slag Superfund Site in Sayreville County, New Jersey; and the Chemical Commodities, Inc., Site in Olathe, Kan. Upcoming Site Milestones EPA Region 7 continues to work towards the long-term site remedy and the proposed isolation barrier. EPA also expects to complete within the next 30 days its first summary of the analytical data collected by the five off-site air monitoring stations, located in areas around the landfill. EPA Region 7 intends to make the data summary available on its website. Community Inquiries Ben Washburn 913-551-7364 Washburn.Ben@epa.gov Find Us On www.facebook.com/eparegion7 www.twitter.com/eparegion7 www.scribd.com/eparegion7 www.epa.gov/region7/cleanup/west_lake_landfill other written materials about techniques and cleanup ------- |