Belmont Risks Can Be Controlled, Expert Says

In its final meeting before deliberations, the Belmont Learning Complex commission heard Saturday from a series of experts, including a health official who questioned whether the school district could ensure the safety of the troubled site and an attorney who said future lawsuits would be likely.

Dr. Philip Harber, a UCLA professor who heads the commission’s public health and science committee, said hazards at the site, which include explosive methane gas and toxic hydrogen sulfide, could theoretically be contained.

“If it is well done, the risks can be reasonably controlled,” he said. But the need to monitor and control the hazards at the site would be long term.

During his presentation, Harber sparked discussion when he questioned whether the district can “be trusted to maintain the systems and communicate for 70 years.”

“What’s really important is to ensure . . . somebody isn’t going to make the argument that books are more important than a meter reader,” Harber said.

The commission was appointed in August by the Los Angeles Board of Education to determine whether the $200-million Belmont project should be completed or abandoned. The commission will begin deliberating Monday and is expected to return its recommendations to the board by Wednesday.

If the school is ultimately opened, Harber said, rules must be put in place to ensure that the district does not slack off on safety measures. Pressure from the community, media attention and the threat of lawsuits could help ensure that monitoring the project remains a high priority, Harber said.

Ira Reiner, chief counsel and executive director of the commission, countered: “Pressure is like any other gas: It dissipates very quickly.”

Years from now, public attention will be focused on other problems, he said.

“The question remains: What will be the performance of the district when there is no pressure?”

Reiner asked each member of the health committee to give a “candid opinion as to whether the [district] is competent to handle” the long-term monitoring.

Committee member Michael Collins said the panel did not know “the competency of all the people in the district.”

“No school district is competent to handle these issues,” he said. “It really is not fair for us to expect teachers and others in the current school district to handle such issues.”

At Saturday’s meeting, commission members also heard from an expert in toxic substances litigation who was asked to examine the liability the district will face if the school opens.

“The propensity of our society to be litigious is a fact that this commission has to take into consideration,” said Walter J. Lack.

In his report, Lack said that in such cases attempts are made to establish a causal relationship between the site and all forms of physical ailments.

“The prospects of potential plaintiffs establishing a causal relationship are enhanced dramatically whenever a plaintiff is placed into an environment where chronic exposure to low levels of toxic chemicals and gases can be proven,” he wrote.

In its deliberations, the commission will also consider the implications of the state education code, which prohibits the construction of schools on former hazardous waste disposal sites.

“We received further testimony that a portion [of the Belmont Learning Complex] is on a former toxic waste site,” said Cruz Reynoso, chairman of the commission, who asked how any future litigation would be affected by the above provision of the code.

“It affects liability greatly,” Lack said.

He added: “These cases are notoriously difficult to prove at the end of the day because of causation.”

The district could purchase general liability insurance “that would fully cover the district in most cases,” he wrote. “The political and moral implications, however, are disregarded in such an approach.”

L.A. Unified trustee Victoria Castro also appeared before the commission, urging members to consider overcrowding and the needs of students in the Belmont area.

“One of the things that has not been mentioned is that the science and engineering continue to improve,” she said. “I believe [the risks] can be mitigated. I believe we have to do it.”

Commission member David S. Beckman questioned whether the district should be in the business of building schools on sites such as the Belmont project.

“It appears we’re being asked to put our faith in a district that’s coming apart at the seams,” he said.

The lack of checks and balances that led to the problems with Belmont extend from the district up to the governor’s office, Castro said.

“A complete overall is needed on how we regulate these things,” she said.