Plans to turn the shuttered Asa Wood Elementary School into a community center have stalled. The Environmental Protection Agency informed the school district earlier this month that it will remove asbestos from the building without knocking part of it down. According to Superintendent K.W. Maki the school was hoping the EPA would help remove a section of the building, resulting in less space to maintain.
But according to EPA Superfund Program Director Bill Murray, the government agency is simply following the rules set in place by the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants.
“We understand and are sympathetic to what the school board wants to do, but we’ve got to stand behind our regulations,” Murray said. He added if the school district were to respond to the EPA’s ruling with new information that it may reconsider.
The Libby School Board voted in January to ask the EPA to remove vermiculite asbestos from the walls of the old school, which was closed in June 2011, and then demolish the infected section, built in the 1950s. Maki had said two buildings would remain on an attractive and centrally located 9-acre piece of property. No decisions had been made about what to do with the property, but one of the most popular ideas was establishing a community center.
After the January board meeting, Maki sent a letter to the EPA outlining the district’s goal of getting on the EPA’s seasonal cleaning list. But the response Maki got wasn’t what he had hoped for. Murray said after evaluating the building, the EPA would be able to safely remove the asbestos without demolition.
Maki said he understands where the EPA is coming from and that it doesn’t necessarily change the school board’s plans, though they will just be more difficult and expensive. Due to the age of the building section in question, Maki said it must come down anyway and now he would need to have to find the money to do it.
“Here’s a 1950s building with single-pane windows, doors that need to be replaced and a boiler that needs to be replaced too,” he said. “It’d be much easier to develop and maintain a smaller building.”
Murray said the EPA would work with any local contractors the school hires to take out the section of building. He said the EPA’s goal is to clean buildings and it’s rare that one would need to be demolished. He said the cleanup could be done anytime before a contractor comes in to demolish the school.
Maki said he plans on sending a response to the EPA, asking the agency to reconsider. He also said the hopes of turning the building into a community center are still alive.
“I want people to drive by the building and say, ‘What a beautiful spot; what a great community center,’” he said. “The economy isn’t good here and we already have a lot of boarded up buildings – are we going to have another?”