Chairman McNutt called the meeting to order. |
|
| Trustees Present: |
Absent: |
Don McNutt, Chairman
Jim Ford, Vice Chairman
John Albert
Dru Buntin
Mark A. Kaiser (for Doug Nelson)
Tom Kolb
Ski Mariea
Danny Opie
Bruce Work |
Tom Pfeiffer
Melvin Schebaum
|
| Staff Present: |
|
Bob Clarke, Operations Manager, Williams & Company Consulting, Inc.
Tim Duggan, Assistant Attorney General
Carol R. Eighmey, Executive Director
Dan Henry, Williams & Company Consulting, Inc.
Diane James, Executive Assistant
Pat Vuchetich, General Claims Manager, Williams & Company Consulting, Inc. |
| Others Present: |
Lee Bowron, Kerper and Bowron
Lori Gordon, Acting Director, Division of Administrative Services, MDNR
Ken Koon, Chief, Tanks Section, Hazardous Waste Program, MDNR
Ron Leone, Executive Director, MPCA
Mike Martin, Compliance/Enforcement Section, Hazardous Waste Program, MDNR
David Pate, Midwest Environmental Consultants
|
Claim Appeal - Former Total #4412, Claim 60454
Tom Kolb moved to accept Ms. Eighmey’s recommendation to pay an additional $9,390.00 on this claim. Jim Ford seconded. Motion carried.
Approval of Minutes – November 18, 2009 Meeting-Open Session Meeting
Bruce Work moved that the minutes from the November 18, 2009 Board meeting be approved. Ski Mariea seconded. Motion carried.
Monthly Reports
Chairman McNutt invited Trustees to review the monthly reports and invited questions. Mr. Ford inquired about three old large loss claims, asking why it was taking more than 20 years to complete the cleanups and get the claim files closed. Ms. Eighmey noted that nearly all of the large-loss claims involve “legacy pollution,” that sometimes there is no “responsible party” whom DNR can compel to take action, and that other factors may cause delays. She promised Mr. Ford a more detailed response on the three he specifically asked about.
Actuarial Report
Chairman McNutt introduced Lee Bowron of Kerper and Bowron, LLC, to present the 2009 Actuarial Report. Mr. Bowron showed several slides and reviewed his findings; a copy of his presentation is filed with these minutes.** He noted that the Trustees’ notebooks contained an Executive Summary and abbreviated report, and that his complete report with all accompanying tables had been provided to the Executive Director.
Ski Mariea asked why the report addressed reinsurance; Mr. Bowron responded that a brief review of the subject had been requested in his contract, noting that of the several reasons to consider reinsurance, the only one that might be relevant for the PSTIF would be to transfer some of its risks to another party. He noted the cost of doing so would have to be evaluated more thoroughly to determine whether it was a good strategy. Ms. Eighmey added that state law gives the Board of Trustees explicit authority to purchase reinsurance, but previous Boards had never seriously considered doing so.
Jim Ford moved to approve Mr. Bowron’s Actuarial Report. Ski Mariea seconded. Motion carried.
Final Report on Remedial Claims Project
Chairman McNutt introduced Bob Clarke, who summarized the results of this multi-year project to identify and contact the current property owners of 1700+ properties that are eligible for PSTIF benefits and for which a remedial claim could be filed. The project had only resulted in 16 new claims being filed. He concluded that the project confirmed that the number of new remedial claims likely to be filed in future years will be small.
Tom Kolb asked whether the project had affected estimated claim reserves; Ms. Eighmey said that the reserve estimates shown on the monthly activity reports are for claims already filed, and that Williams & Company’s cash flow projections, are based on assumptions on the number of new claims they think will be filed in future years. In recent years, they have assumed a relatively small number of new claims will be filed in each future year of the PSTIF’s operation.
Mr. Bowron confirmed that he had reached the same conclusion, but in a different fashion, during his actuarial study.
Ken Koon commented that he recognizes that the 1700+ properties involved in the project are ones for which the Department could have compelled action, since regulated underground tanks were removed or taken out of service in the past without following DNR’s regulatory requirements. However, he said his philosophy is to focus resources on sites where it is known that contamination exists, rather than taking actions to “create” new cleanup files. Carol Eighmey noted that, in the last 15 years, DNR had occasionally sent letters to persons who were the registered tank owners for these locations, notifying them of their responsibility to properly close the tanks; she said her impression is that the Department’s mailings also had generated little response.
Legislative Report
Chairman McNutt invited Ms. Eighmey to review the legislative report, which she did. She noted Representative Jones had filed a bill similar to one he filed last year, which would amend the “Sunshine Law” in such a way that the Board would no longer be able to discuss and decide claim appeals in closed session.
(Mark Kaiser left the room to attend to another matter.)
Bruce Work moved to direct the Executive Director to contact Representative Jones and request the same amendment as was inserted last year, so that the PSTIF Board could continue handling claim appeals in the same manner as it has in the past. Ski Mariea seconded. Motion carried.
(Mark Kaiser returned to the room.)
Chairman McNutt then invited Ron Leone to comment on his organization’s ideas regarding UST operator training; Mr. Leone distributed and reviewed suggested language, commenting that he thinks something should be passed this year. He noted the draft bill would require that the PSTIF create, maintain and pay for a training program that meets federal requirements. Dru Buntin indicated the Department was reviewing the proposed language and would provide comments to Mr. Leone.
Don McNutt asked if any estimate had been made of the likely cost to the PSTIF; Mr. Leone said not yet. There was additional discussion about the difficulty of enforcing a training requirement in an industry that has significant personnel turnover, the need for reciprocity with other states, since many companies own convenience stores in multiple states, and the fact that few other states yet have experience implementing the federal training requirement.
Jim Ford made a motion authorizing Ron Leone to draft a bill on UST training and to work with Ms. Eighmey and DNR on this issue, with the understanding that the PSTIF would pay for the training. Ms. Eighmey observed that Mr. Leone will follow the directives of the MPCA Board and said she would provide any information requested by Mr. Leone; she suggested action by the PSTIF Board would be premature, since the MPCA has not made a decision on what it will do and no bill has yet been filed. Mr. Ford then withdrew his motion.
Report - Drining Water Threats from Tan Releases
Chairman McNutt invited Trustees to review the report provided in their notebooks and asked Ms. Eighmey if she had any comments to add. Ms. Eighmey noted that situations across the country vary greatly; some states are similar to Missouri and have had relatively few wells impacted by underground tank system leaks, while in other states, a significant number have affected drinking water wells. She said the PSTIF would continue to maintain the list so as to monitor which claims pose the greatest threat to human health and the environment.
DNR Updates
RBCA Rules
Chairman McNutt asked Dru Buntin or Ms. Eighmey if they had comments to add to the summary in the notebooks.
Mr. Buntin noted that he and Ms. Eighmey had met the previous week to discuss how to move forward with the RBCA rules. He said the DNR has contacted the University of Missouri-Columbia’s law school about mediating discussions between the DNR and the PSTIF; he noted Ms. Eighmey had expressed concern that attempting to utilize another mediator that does not have any technical expertise on the subject matter would not be fruitful. He mentioned one possibility is to engage both a law school mediator and a technical expert for the discussions.
Ms. Eighmey opined that such a process could work, but emphasized that the MDNR needs to clearly identify what there is/was about the previous decisions, as contained in the 2004 Guidance Document, that the Department thinks doesn’t work or needs fixing, since that document was the product of a long, arduous stakeholders’process, and since the Board has already spent time and resources aimed at helping DNR “codify” that document into regulations.
Chairman McNutt affirmed this point, reiterating that the industry was told the RBCA requirements would be decided by the stakeholders’ process, and that the DNR’s 2004 Guidance Document generally accomplished that, so it had never been explained why the Department subsequently made a unilateral decision to change what had been agreed upon.
(John Albert left the room to attend to another matter.)
Dru Buntin agreed that it should only be necessary to discuss a few issues, not revisit all the decisions previously made; he told the Board that the Department will send a written communication on this subject in the next couple of weeks.
(John Albert returned to the room.)
Mr. Buntin then mentioned that DNR had provided a 2nd quarter report that summarizes how it is spending the money provided by the PSTIF for tanks work. Ms. Eighmey noted that copies of this report had been distributed to the Trustees at the meeting; a copy is attached hereto and made a part hereof.** She commented that DNR is now providing this information on a regular basis and expressed appreciation to Mr. Buntin and his staff, including Lori Gordon, Acting Director of the Department of Administrative Services for DNR, who was introduced to the Board. Chairman McNutt thanked Ms. Gordon for attending the meeting.
Jim Ford asked what the difference is between a couple of activities listed on the report; Ken Koon indicated one code is used by managers and one by the employees who are actually responsible for the day-to-day oversight of cleanups; he promised to clarify the distinction further in a follow-up communication to the Board.
Monitoring Well Rules
Dru Buntin noted that he has received a draft legal opinion regarding the statutory authority for the rule amendments, which he will share with Ms. Eighmey when it is in final form.
ARRA (“Stimulus”) Money for UST Site Cleanups
Mark Kaiser asked if DNR was having problems getting the money spent because of workload issues. Ken Koon responded they are having difficulty contacting the owners of some properties and getting access to some sites. Dru Buntin asked when they estimated they would start spending the money. Mr. Koon said the first contracts had been awarded and work had begun at a few sites in recent days.
Compliance Report Submitted by DNR to EPA
Chairman McNutt directed Trustees’ attention to the reports in their notebooks and observed that Missouri continues to be in the top ten states in compliance, and ranks number one in complying with leak detection requirements for USTs. He noted Missouri continues to be “in the middle of the pack” on cleanups – better than some, but with room to improve. He congratulated the DNR and PSTIF on these accomplishments.
Aministrative Issues
FY10 Inspections – Chairman McNutt asked Trustees if there were any questions on the information provided in their notebooks. There were none.
FY10 Goals – Chairman McNutt invited questions or comments on what was provided in their notebooks. There were none.
National Tanks Conference Planning Meeting, March 11-12, 2010 – Tom Kolb moved to approve the Executive Director’s out-of-state travel to Boston, MA for this meeting. Ski Mariea seconded. Motion carried
Billings– Chairman McNutt invited questions from the Trustees on the invoices listed. There were none.
PACE 2010 Trade Show, February 19-20, 2010 – Chairman McNutt invited all Trustees to attend.
Jim Ford moved that the Board go into closed session to discuss and vote on matters related to legal actions, causes of action, litigation, and/or personnel issues pursuant to Section 610.021, RSMo. Tom Kolb seconded. Motion carried.
**For a copy of the information/presentation mentioned in these minutes, please contact the PSTIF Office. Please note, if the information/presentation is in electronic format, it will be sent to you as an email attachment per your request. However, as some information may be in hard copy only, please provide your mailing address at the time of your email request.
Back
to Top
