By Jessica Edwards
Motel owner Mike Ricker says he’s losing business to concerns
about asbestos at the former grocery store site adjacent to his motel on Dalton Street.
Heli-skiers who booked three rooms for 17 days checked out after
driving by the site, where signs warn of an asbestos hazard. That cost him $5,100. Ricker
said he also laid off three housekeepers and two part-time carpenters for fear of
liability. "I can’t risk something coming back to us. I’d rather be safe
than sorry."
In addition, heli-ski film company Absynthe Films, which typically
spends nearly two months at his motel, have chosen to instead stay up the highway.
Ricker said his loss will spread to nearby restaurants and bars, which
make money during the heli-ski season, particularly when foul weather keeps ski crews
grounded.
Restaurant and bar owner Christy Tengs Fowler said the film crew is a
big part of her spring income. "It’s a godsend to us in April. We’ve always
counted on that crew. I hope somebody can do something about (the cleanup) soon."
Ricker contends the demolished building represents a violation of
borough code that makes it unlawful to maintain a building in a manner that poses a hazard
or unsafe condition.
Borough manager Robert Venables said the site was not in violation of
borough code because action was being taken to remediate it.
Venables said the key word in code was "to maintain" and said
because owner Haines Assisted Living was taking action to clean up the site, it was not
classified as a nuisance.
"It’s not a static or a stale situation," he said.
"They are taking steps to get that remediated. The site needs to be taken care of,
and they are very aware of that."
Venables said the borough has been monitoring the situation and was
satisfied progress was being made according to Environmental Protection Agency mandates.
Because the EPA regulated the cleanup, the borough would have authority to step in only
"if they were to drag (the cleanup) out."
Ricker’s was the only complaint the borough had received, he said.
Haines Assisted Living board chair Jim Studley said Roc Ahrens, local
incident commander and emergency planner, has been hired as site project manager.
"We want the public to know we are trying to do something,"
he said.
Studley said requests for qualifications and requests for proposals
would be advertised in the coming week, and if a qualified contractor and workers could be
engaged quickly, work may begin within 30 days. The job requires a contractor and laborers
qualified for asbestos work.
Studley said he was pursuing funding from multiple sources, including
$300,000 from the legislature’s capital budget, and possibly funds from the Chilkoot
Indian Association.
"We’re anxious to get started," Ahrens said.
"We’re not waiting for funding to begin looking for a qualified contractor to
get it cleaned up."
Ahrens said he wanted to assure people their concerns about the
site’s dangers were understood, but said the site posed little actual risk.
"It’s all being dealt with according to EPA regulations. The risk according to
evaluation has been very minimal."
Asbestos, a fibrous mineral once used in construction, is hazardous
when airborne. Ahrens said there was little material at the site likely to become
airborne. Most of the asbestos in the building was in ceiling tiles, he said, which had
fallen on the floor into water and frozen.
When a contractor is hired, the first step will be to develop a work
plan for cleanup. Ahrens said it was likely all asbestos material at the site would have
to be identified and separated out for disposal at a regulated landfill.
Air quality and bulk sampling tests conducted by White Environmental
since the March 3 demolition both came up negative for reportable quantities of asbestos,
Studley said.
Ahrens said complying with the EPA’s required barriers and warning
signs had aroused concern about the site. "The red tape doesn’t quantify the
concern," he said.
John Pavitt, EPA enforcement agent, said the EPA mandates the signs at
demolition sites known to contain asbestos to notify the public not to enter the site. He
said rummaging through demolitions in order to collect souvenirs or salvage building
materials was common. "We need to err on the side of caution."
Pavitt said Studley called him the day the building partially collapsed
and has given him updates every other day, as well as sending more than 200 photographs
documenting the demolition and steps taken to secure the site. "I feel as if the EPA
has enough information to monitor from Anchorage."
EPA regulations require that asbestos sites be kept wet, covered and
protected from the wind, and surrounded by barriers preventing people from entering.
The EPA had received two calls from concerned citizens, Pavitt said,
one from Ricker and another from an anonymous caller concerned about the cleanup.
The anonymous caller was concerned that the actual cleanup would be
done as slowly, carefully, and safely as possible, Pavitt said. An EPA inspector would
probably inspect the cleanup unannounced to test compliance, he said.
He said that while the EPA’s approach to managing asbestos could
be summed up as, "No exposure is good exposure," based on his experience of 20
years with the EPA, the site was low risk because it had been sprayed with water and
covered, and because the weather was rainy and snowy.
A long, dry, windy spell could elevate the risks, he said, and would
require more water, more plastic, and weights to keep the covering from tearing.
