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Below, please find a summary of Settlement milestones for March 2013:

During the month, much was accomplished in carrying out both the Medical Monitoring Program and the Property Clean-Up Program, after timely beginning on November 1, 2011.


A. GENERAL MATTERS 

On February 1, 2013, we submitted to the Court and the Parties for review and possible approval the 2011 Annual Fiduciary Accountings for the Remediation Fund and the Medical Monitoring Fund (the “Two Funds”). The Accountings were approved by the Court in March, and the approval Orders are on the Settlement’s website.

In February, the Court approved the Settlement’s engagement agreement with Dixon, Hughes, Goodman, LLP, the 2011 Outside Auditor, for this same firm to provide 2012 Financial Statement outside audit and 2012 tax return review services for the Two Funds under the same budget. This work began in March.


B. MEDICAL MONITORING PROGRAM

Important Medical Monitoring Program (the “Program”) milestones were accomplished in March. 
 
As March came to a close, approximately 2,039 Claimants had been scheduled for a Medical Monitoring visit.

After finalizing the list of Verified Medical Monitoring Registrants in July, with there being 5,890, and following Court-approval of a final $55 dividend to the Verified Medical Monitoring Registrants, we issued the final dividends in August 2012, and in March we continued to mail to a better address payments we received back in the mail due to a changed address, and to replace dividend checks lost in the mail.


C. PROPERTY CLEAN-UP PROGRAM

The deadline for submitting Property Clean-Up Registration Forms was December 2, 2011, and we have received 1,155 Forms from claimants.

By Order dated May 1, 2012, the Court selected NCM as the clean-up contractor, and as March came to a close NCM had begun to remediate 166 houses, and had completed remediating 92 parcels of soil and 151 houses. In November 2012, soil remediation for the year came to a close, due to weather, to be restarted in the Spring, tentatively April 15, 2013.

Unlike in some clean-up programs, soil and houses are retested for heavy metals contamination after NCM reports that they have been remediated. If they are still contaminated, NCM must remediate them further at NCM’s expense.

With the soil remediation for the season being dormant, throughout March we concentrated on house remediation, with the goal being not to have more than 35 properties being remediated at any one time. To maintain the agreed 35 open remediation properties average, additional houses were provided to NCM to remediate. To facilitate more rapid completion of clean-up claimant house punch-list items, NCM’s payment for a house clean-up has been modified from 20% when started, 60% when its completed and 20% when claimant punch-list items completed, to 20% / 40% / 40%.

We began to use a web-based confidential remediation database, being updated by the Settlement, NCM and CORE (the post-remediation testing company) on a real-time basis. However, new remediation is for houses only (no soil), and we plan to continue remediation of the soil in the Spring.

On June 4, we submitted to the Court for consideration a proposed First Addendum to the CORE Sampling Agreement, previously approved by the Court, allowing CORE to do the post clean-up sampling as NCM cleans up soil in Zone 1A and houses in the Class Area. By Order dated June 11, 2012, the Court-appointed CORE for this task, and CORE is conducting the post-remediation sampling.

Respecting soil, on March 5, NCM and the Settlement reached an agreement, subject to Court approval, to provide optional enhancement procedures for replacement soil installed in 2012, and supplemental testing procedures for replacement soil installed in 2013, to help ensure good replacement soil consistency. The Court hearing on this matter is scheduled for April 5, 2013, at 2:30 p.m. A new pit for the 2013 season has been identified and has tested satisfactorily.