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Pacific Southwest, Region 9

Serving: Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Pacific Islands, Tribal Nations

Naturally Occurring Asbestos

Past Meetings

For reference purposes, this page includes information from El Dorado Hills asbestos meetings that have already occured.

In El Dorado Hills, U.S. EPA and the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) held a joint community meeting at Oak Ridge High School on February 25, 2004. About 250 people attended, and many submitted written questions that the agencies have answered in the document below, which was mailed to meeting attendees and local libraries in June 2004.

In May 2004, U.S. EPA met with Congressman Doolittle and the Local Agency Working Group, which includes local elected officials and other representatives of local organizations. In May and June, U.S. EPA met with State and local agencies to brief them on our strategy for assessing naturally occurring asbestos in El Dorado Hills. Throughout this project, U.S. EPA has consulted often with the California Environmental Protection Agency’s (Cal/EPA's) Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), and Air Resources Board, as well as El Dorado county's departments of Environmental Management and Public Health.

Asbestos Science Seminars.  In response to local agency and community interest in science issues related to asbestos, U.S. EPA arranged for experts to present the current state of the science of naturally occurring asbestos to the El Dorado Hills community.  The Asbestos Science Seminars were held on Wednesday and Thursday, August 18 and 19, 2004, at 5:30 pm, at the Folsom Community Center (52 Natoma Street, Folsom, CA). At these meetings, experts from the California Geological Survey and the U.S. Geological Survey presented information on the geology of asbestos in El Dorado county and elsewhere in the state. The reports that they discussed are available from their agencies' Web sites.

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The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry presented an overview of the health effects of NOA.

And the U.S. EPA's principal toxicologist for the Libby, Montana, asbestos contamination site presented current best practices for sampling and analysis to determine asbestos exposure.

U.S. EPA also discussed work on asbestos issues across the country, and several representatives of local stakeholders presented their perspectives on U.S. EPA's work in El Dorado Hills.  Several question-and-answer periods provided for further information exchange among the participants.

NOA Assessment Strategy workshop.  The following week, U.S. EPA held a workshop on plans for assessing exposure to naturally occurring asbestos in El Dorado Hills. This meeting took place on Tuesday, August 24, 2004, at 6:30 pm, also at the Folsom Community Center (52 Natoma Street, Folsom, CA). At this meeting, U.S. EPA Region 9's senior toxicologist summarized the presentations from the asbestos sciences seminars.

And U.S. EPA Region 9's project manager described current plans and procedures for measuring exposure to NOA in El Dorado Hills.  

As in the asbestos science seminars, question-and-answer periods allowed participants to clarify and share ideas.

Once the assessment field work and laboratory analysis is completed, U.S. EPA expects to hold further community meetings to describe the results of the assessment and, depending on these results, possibly to discuss potential next steps for addressing naturally occurring asbestos in El Dorado county.

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