It's time to get straight answers about toxins in our schools.

Malibu Unites invites you to a Town Hall meeting this Thursday night at Duke’s

On Friday, April 25, Environ, the environmental company hired by SMMUSD, submitted its 81-page plan for inspection, management and removal of PCBs at MHS. The document was submitted to our state EPA office for approval. Malibu Unites has hired a team of experts for oversight. They have one week to comment on this plan and submit it to the EPA. Community input will be essential to our ability to move forward in a way that adequately represents everyone’s concerns. 

Operating under a strict time deadline, Malibu Unites has flown in our experts and put together a Town Hall for this Thursday evening to help MHS parents, teachers and local residents understand the Environ PCB plan and get straight answers from experts. We are fortunate to have four of our Advisory Council members (see below) available to meet with us. They will translate the Environ plan into laypersons’ terms and answer questions, including health concerns, that have been lingering since the contamination issue was brought to public attention in October 2013.
We want to know your concerns. We want to hear your ideas. Equally as important, we want you to get your questions answered. Please join us at Duke’s Restaurant, 21150 Pacific Coast Highway, from 6:30 to 10 p.m. for this unique opportunity.

Admission is free.

Malibu Unites Advisory Council Panelists: 

Kurt Fehling, is the Malibu Unites Independent Expert Team Leader. A senior health scientist with more than a dozen years of experience in conducting human health risk assessments for occupational and residential populations exposed to contaminated soil, air, or groundwater. A principal in The Fehling Group, he and his experienced team will offer expert oversight for the planning, testing, and lab analysis of samples taken from the MHS site. Our team consists of five experts with PHD and Masters in their respected field. Fehling will be available to answer any scientific questions you may have about the toxins found on campus, the remediation work done thus far, and his recommendations for future testing.   

Nachman Brautbar, MD, is board certified in internal medicine, Nephrology and Forensic Medicine, with a specialization in Medical Toxicology. His list of past and present academic appointments include Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Southern California. He specializes in the toxicological and internal medicine aspects of toxic exposure and can talk with us about the long-term and cumulative effects of toxins on the body.

Christina Georgio, JD, is a staff attorney for New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, a non-profit civil rights legal organization that puts its legal, policy and community-organizing expertise at the service of New York City communities and individuals.  NYLPI represented New York City community members in the NYC PCB-Free Schools campaign involving 2,200 schools in New York City.  Georgio was instrumental in winning the case against NYC to ensure that PCBs must be tested for and removed from the city schools in a timely manner. She will share NYC's experience with us as a teaching tool and offer suggestions for how Malibu can rally to rid its schools of PCBs.  

Penny Newman is executive director of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, one of the oldest and most accomplished environmental justice organizations in the country. She was instrumental in fighting for the cleanup of one of California’s top priority Superfund sites, the Stringfellow acid pits, which were contaminating her neighborhood school in Glen Avon, California, in the late 1970s. Since then she has been helping citizens’ groups in their efforts to maintain safe air, water, and land in their communities. Newman has been called a “SuperWoman” for her work and has received honors and awards from South Coast Air Quality Management District, the California Senate, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, and the Environmental Protection Agency. She will help us navigate the government agencies and tell us what we need to do to ensure that our schools are comprehensively tested.