Archive for the ‘Asbestos Abatement’ Category

When hiring an asbestos contractor to remove the toxic mineral from a home or business, one man says take caution, as many asbestos workers have false credentials and aren’t licensed to handle the material.

According to Don McCarty, the Northeast District manager for the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, many people in Georgia who have the certificate that proves they have asbestos work credentials actually aren’t qualified to handle asbestos at all.

Asbestos was widely used during much of the twentieth century for its durability and fire-resistant properties. The toxic substance is dangerous because any amount of exposure can result in a range of serious diseases, including asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. The latter is especially difficult to deal with because mesothelioma symptoms usually do not appear until the disease is in the advanced stages of development.

Due to the multiple threats of asbestos cancer, asbestos should only be handled by a licensed contractor who has the knowledge and equipment needed to safely handle the material. Proper asbestos-removal techniques include a process called wet-removal, in which asbestos materials are thoroughly drenched with water to prevent fibers from being released into the air.

Georgia, like most states, has strict regulations that control who can safely handle asbestos. Many states require people who remove asbestos to complete certain training before being qualified to perform the work. The certification program is supposed to provide training, but according to Don McCarty, many people have false certificates.

McCarty claims that when the federal Environmental Protection Agency checked a Florida site where 89 people were at work, the agency found that only a third of the workers had authentic asbestos credentials.

Incredibly, McCarty says that a third of the people the EPA checked had bogus certificates or Social Security numbers, and another third had attained certificates using false names.

McCarty said that false certificates are often made for workers who are in the country illegally. He believes some workers may even have multiple false credentials, enabling them to work in different states without proper asbestos training.

McCarty is urging those who will hire an asbestos contractor in future to make sure they have the right credentials.

The city of Lorain in Ohio is about to receive a grant of almost $3 million. The grant is intended to reimburse the city for the costs of environmental remediation at the old Ford Plant located in the city.

City officials say that the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund grant of $2,996,165 will reimburse the city for the cost of removing asbestos and PCB-containing materials from one section of the site.

Asbestos and PCBs are both common contaminants of industrial sites due to their many different uses in industry. Asbestos was once commonly used in all manner of construction materials, due to the fire resistance, durability, and strength it provided to the materials it was added to.

PCBs were once commonly used as insulating and cooling fluids in transistors, capacitors, and transformers, and had many other industrial uses.

However, both substances are carcinogenic, and exposure to either substance can cause other serious diseases as well as certain types of cancer.

Contaminated sites such as the Ford Plant in Lorain must be cleaned of dangerous substances such as asbestos and PCBs before they can be put to other purposes, however the process is often long, difficult, and costly.

The city has decided to take bids for the clean up work, which is expected to cost around $3 million. Don Romancak, chief planner of the City Community Development Department says the city plans to pay contractors to complete the work, and then receive reimbursement from the state between 60 and 90 days after the completion date.

“Any money we’re putting into this project for Clean Ohio, we are being reimbursed from the state of Ohio,” Romancak said.
According to Don Romancak, paying for the work in this way means the city can better control the costs of the project.
Romancak also says that the California-based Industrial Realty Group will contribute around $8 million to the costs of clean up, demolition, and other costs associated with the remediation project.

Industrial Realty Group purchased the former Ford Assembly Plant in 2006 and lease space in the complex to several other companies.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency is seeking comments on developing plans to clean up a site at Walpole, Massachusetts which has been the site of industrial activity and contamination for nearly three hundred years.

The contaminated site is the Blackburn & Union Privileges Superfund Site. Superfund sites are those which are contaminated and abandoned, and have been placed on an EPA National Priorities List.

The site, which was occupied by industry between the 1600s and the mid 1980s, may receive a $13 million facelift, which will involve treating the site’s groundwater, and removing and disposing of contaminated soil and sediment.

The site has a long and messy history. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it was the site of a long list of various industrial and commercial companies, after which it was already contaminated with heavy metals and other toxic substances, including chromium, mercury, and arsenic.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the site was taken over by asbestos manufacturing company Multibestos, and between 1920 and 1937 was the site of the company’s asbestos brake lining manufacturing plant.

The next chapter in the site’s history involved the Kendall Company, which used the site for fabric production from the 1930s until 1985, and discharged considerable amounts of wastewater and toxins into the surrounding environment.

The plan can be viewed at www.epa.gov/region1/superfund/sites/blackburn, and the comment period closes on July 18. On July 14, the EPA will hold a public meeting at which Walpole residents can find out more about the plan for cleaning up the area.

Following the close of the comment period, the EPA plans to publish a Record of Decision which will describe its final plan for the clean up of the contaminated site.

Next, the EPA, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and other interested and responsible parties will meet to negotiate funding for the clean up of the contaminated site.

Only after this process is completed can the actual clean up begin. According to EPA Remedial Project Manager Dave Lederer, the plan may be implemented within two years of being finalized, with the Record of Decision being a key in getting the clean up process going.

Ithaca, New York - Closed since the late 1980s, the Ithaca Gun Factory is now planned for demolition and remediation, but local residents are worried that the budget for the planned project isn’t big enough to get the job finished.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation held a meeting at City Hall to discuss the project, and several community residents voiced their concerns about the budget for the clean up, which is just $2.2 million. The proposed budget will cover both demolition and remediation for the site, and locals are concerned that’s just not enough money to complete the entire project.

Local Sara Steuteville, a member of the site’s Community Advisory Group, said, “We don’t want to get halfway through and have delay. The site just can’t have it. We’ve had enough delay.”

The Ithaca Gun Factory is contaminated with a range of harmful substances, including asbestos, chlorinated solvents (including trichloroethylene), and lead. All three are known to be hazardous: lead can have a negative impact on the brain development of children, and asbestos and trichloroethylene are known human carcinogens.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency made an effort to clean up the contamination between 2002 and 2004, sinking a total of $4.8 million into its efforts to remove the contamination. However, some areas of the former gun factory still remain heavily contaminated.

In response to residents’ concerns over the size of the budget for the present project, Kenneth Lynch, director of DEC Region 7, said the DEC is “very aware of the possibility of additional funding being necessary for this project. We do have a fairly good handle on what’s out there and what needs to be done. I will not, though, assure you that there’s enough money to complete the project.”

If necessary, Lynch says, the DEC will aid the city in identifying other sources of potential funding for the project. The worst-case scenario, he says, is that the state’s Superfund or EPA may have to step in and provide funds or complete the remediation project. “There is a contingency plan always in place,” says Lynch.

The current remediation plan involves decontaminating the site using the $2.2 million. Following that phase of the project, it is planned that developer Frost Travis will turn the site into a condominium development which will include a city walkway overlooking Ithaca Falls. This is, however, contingent on whether there’s enough money to complete the remediation.

Residents do have other concerns, in addition to the budget issue. In particular, the public is concerned about air quality during the project, and whether monitoring will be carried out while it is in progress. Susan Shearer, senior sanitary engineer with the state Department of Health, responded by saying that air monitors will operate continuously around the perimeter of the demolition zone. If the monitors detect heavy amounts of toxic dust construction methods can be adjusted to reduce dust levels.

Many companies, when faced with massive numbers of asbestos-related lawsuits, respond by setting up trust funds from which claimants can be awarded compensation for the injuries they sustain after asbestos exposure. For some companies, it is vital for their existence, and is part of their bankruptcy settlements. However, many people must wait up to twelve months or even longer for compensation money after starting a claim.

The Owens Corning/Fiberboard Asbestos Personal Injury Trust, for example, has a long list of claimants who are waiting for compensation, with many waiting for longer than a year.

Since October 2006, when the trust was set up, it has paid $390 million to cover the claims of 70,000 people, most of whom are construction workers, ship-builders, and other trades people who developed asbestos-related diseases due to asbestos exposure caused by products which Toledo-based Owens Corning and its Fiberboard subsidiary once made.

As part of Owens Corning’s six-year bankruptcy proceedings, the trust assumed responsibility for compensation of people who developed asbestos-related diseases that the company was found to be responsible for. The company funded the trust with a multibillion dollar settlement of cash and stocks.

With 70,000 claims settled already, once might think the trust has already carried out its primary function and the creation of new claims must have slowed down: but since the trust was set up less than two years ago, it has received an additional 256,000 claims, and more come in every day.

The statistics for Owens Corning’s trust are contained in the trust’s first detailed financial report, which was filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware in the spring. The filing is a scant financial statement but doesn’t provide any commentary about whether the trust is meeting or exceeding any expectations in terms of factors such as claim number, size, and rate of completion.

The report says, “The ultimate number of asbestos…claims to be filed and the liability for all such claims are not determinable at this time…The net assets available for the payment of claims at Dec. 31, 2007, may or may not be sufficient to meet all future obligations of the trust.”

Currently the trust contains around $4.5 billion in cash and stocks. Around one third of that total is Owens Corning stock, and in fact, the trust holds almost a full quarter of the company’s stock, and is its biggest shareholder.

So far, most claims for compensation have been for people who settled with OC many years ago, but had their settlement payments delayed by the company’s bankruptcy. The trust normally fills claims for compensation on a first-come first-served basis, except in situations where the claimant is extremely ill.

Clay County school leaders have decided to take an important step in protecting the health of students, by having asbestos removed from Keystone Elementary School.

Ross Tholand, of Clay County Schools said, “We’re removing some transite-paneled walls and replacing those with concrete-block walls and new doors.” Transite is a type of paneled wall product which contains asbestos.

Due to the health risks involved in asbestos exposure, work with or around the substance is tightly regulated and there are several laws and requirements that control how asbestos-containing materials and buildings must be handled. These requirements tend to significantly increase the costs of any renovation or demolition involving asbestos. In the case of the Keystone Elementary School and other buildings which contain asbestos materials, two factors can significantly increase the costs.

The first is that the asbestos must be treated with extreme caution, and special procedures must be used when handling or removing the substance. This requires licensed professionals who are trained to handle asbestos, and often means tight school budgets are stretched even further by the need to hire licensed asbestos contractors.

The second factor is that disposal of asbestos-containing construction waste is up to three times more expensive than disposal of non-hazardous waste, due to the necessity of disposing of the material at a landfill that is equipped to handle hazardous materials. If asbestos waste must be removed, its disposal pushes up the costs of renovations hugely.

The issue of asbestos in schools is likely to become an increasingly widespread problem. Asbestos was used in a variety of building materials between the 1940s and 1980s, due to the substance’s excellence as a fire-retardant, insulator, and acoustic barrier. As asbestos-containing materials age, repairs and renovations may cause disturbance to asbestos materials. These types of disturbances can potentially present a health hazard if proper procedures are not followed to limit exposure.

To deal with asbestos in schools, the EPA requires that all schools that contain asbestos maintain a management plan that details the location of asbestos, its condition, and the measures taken to prevent exposure. In schools where asbestos is present, parents and school employees can request to see a copy of the asbestos management plan at any time.

All friable asbestos has already been removed from Keystone Elementary School, according to Ross Tholand, and the non-friable asbestos which remains is inspected annually. “These [non-friable asbestos materials] are perfectly harmless as long as you don’t take a sand belt and sander to them or drill into them and create a dust. If you create a dust, then you have a friable product, and that’s a little different,” said Tholand.

Parents are pleased that the work is being done during the summer vacation, and that the asbestos is being removed before it becomes a problem, rather than in the future.

A federal bankruptcy judge has decided that bankrupt copper mining company ASARCO has until July 2 to organize its Chapter 11 reorganization plan. Currently it’s thought likely that the plan will include the sale of its working assets to Sterlite Industries Ltd for $2.6 billion.

ASARCO, which has billions of dollars worth of asbestos and other environmental liabilities, had originally asked to be given until August 1 to organize the plan, but Judge Richard Schmidt decided on the July 2 deadline.

After the deadline passes, outside parties, including ASARCO’s parent company Grupo Mexico, will be allowed to propose plans. Grupo Mexico has put in an unofficial offer of $2.7 billion for the company, having lost control during bankruptcy proceedings.

Grupo Mexico is a mining conglomerate headed by Chairman and Chief Executive German Larrea Mota-Velasco. The company is the world’s third largest producer of copper, and has mining interests in several South American locations.

Sterlite, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Ltd, is an India-based copper, zinc and aluminum producer and. The company was the winning bidder at the ASARCO auction in May.

At this stage, however, it’s unclear as to whether ASARCO will sell to Sterlite or to its former parent. ASARCO management is at odds with its former parent for many reasons, which may preclude a Grupo Mexico sale. However, if the Sterlite sale is rejected by ASARCO’s bankruptcy judge it may allow Grupo Mexico a real chance at reacquiring control over its former subsidiary.

ASARCO filed for bankruptcy in 2005, and during the process a bankruptcy judge removed Grupo Mexico’s control over the company due to allegations that the parent company was stripping ASARCO’s assets in an attempt to protect those assets from asbestos and environmental liability claims.

One of those assets was the Peruvian copper mine which was ASARCO’s most valuable asset, arguably the main reason for Grupo Mexico acquiring the company.

Among ASARCO’s claims are that Grupo Mexico systematically stripped the subsidiary of assets, including Peruvian copper mines that ASARCO once had a significant stake in and were the company’s most significant asset. ASARCO claims that Grupo Mexico did this to prevent the mines being used to pay ASARCO’s creditors.

ASARCO also claims that Grupo Mexico had full knowledge of the company’s billions of dollars worth of liabilities when it acquired the company. Grupo Mexico has denied the charges in the recent month-long trial which ended last week. A ruling on the case, in which ASARCO has asked for the return of $11.3 billion in assets, is expected some time during the summer.

Ambler, Pennsylvania – After last week’s funding request to the Environmental Protection Agency for money to clean up the BoRit site in Ambler, PA, U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz has written a letter to the EPA headquarters supporting the request and the citizen’s petition that asks for the site to be included on the National Priorities List.

EPA Region 3 asked EPA headquarters to supply $4 million in Superfund money to clean up the BoRit asbestos site last week. The funding request came from Eduardo Rovira, the eastern EPA branch’s on-scene coordinator. Rovira said in the memo that he estimated eighteen months and more than $8.1 million would be needed to “prevent, limit or mitigate the threat posed by hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants at the site.”

The memo also says that the region can itself cover almost $4 million of the needed money, and asks that EPA headquarters cover the rest. EPA headquarters have so far budgeted $2 million for the regional agency to complete asbestos abatement at the site, over a twelve month time frame.

Asbestos fibers have been found in surface water, sediment, soil, and air samples at the BoRit site. Despite the contamination the nearby creek is a popular local fishing site, and some studies have shown that asbestos has negative effects on fish. More seriously, asbestos causes a highly lethal type of cancer called mesothelioma in humans.

The memo sent by Rovira contained some serious warnings about the asbestos contamination at the BoRit site. Rovira wrote, “If the proposed actions at the site are not implemented or are delayed, the release of hazardous substances into the environment may increase as asbestos-containing materials erode, erosion and run-off continue, asbestos-containing materials are brought to the surface by burrowing animals and/or worst-case weather conditions develop.”

Schwartz’s letter, addressed to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, stressed the importance of the request, and the importance of the EPA to “realize the strong support there is in this community for placing BoRit on the NPL.”

Schwartz said she had received a petition from constituents who supported putting the site on the NPL. The petition was started by Sharon McCormick, an Ambler resident and CAG member. The petition has been circulating since November 2007, and has gained almost 4,500 signatures.

In the letter, Schwartz emphasized the community’s need and desire for the clean-up, saying, “I realize that EPA’s final decision will ultimately be based upon scientific analysis of the conditions at the site, but it is my strong recommendation that EPA consider the input of the community in this matter as it makes its determination.”

Toledo, Ohio – The Southwyck Shopping Mall in Toledo, Ohio, might end up being closed down after the weekend if its owners don’t clean up the asbestos and toxic mold that was found there.

According to a statement from the city of Toledo, Southwyck Mall management will receive 72-hour orders for cleaning up the site.

City Building Inspection Commissioner Chris Zervos said that the present condition of the mall is a health hazard for employees and the public, and that management has just 72 hours to clean up the mold and contain the asbestos so that the public is not at risk of exposure. If the problems aren’t fixed by Monday, says the city’s statement, the mall will be closed down.

Inspections of the Southwyck Shopping Mall were carried out on Friday May 2.

Black mold was found on ceilings in the main concourse of the mall. Asbestos was discovered in a store that is currently vacant but Zervos said that maintenance personnel who entered the vacant area could have inadvertently allowed asbestos to escape the contaminated area.

Carty Finkbeiner, Mayor of Toledo, said “I hope it does not come to the point where we have to shut down the mall. If it does come to that, the city of Toledo department of development will work with current tenants to assist them in their relocation efforts.”

In addition, said Finkbeiner, “We don’t want to inconvenience these business owners or their employees. But we have a responsibility to protect their health and the health of the general public.”

The mall is currently somewhat empty, with just six stores present. Developer Larry Dillin is attempting to buy the site.

However, a buyer might get more than they bargain for. Asbestos in one location means it’s likely to be present in many other places in Southwyck Shopping mall.

Asbestos was so widely used in construction between the 1940s and 1980s that it might be present in many different materials used to build the mall.

Abatement or removal of asbestos can be particularly costly due to the necessary precautionary measures needed when handling and working with the substance. Many states require professionally trained asbestos workers to carry out abatement, and have strict regulations that control how asbestos is removed and disposed of.

Disposal of asbestos waste, for example, is around three times more expensive than disposal of non-hazardous waste. Failure to comply with a state’s asbestos laws can bring costly penalties.

Oregon – This week the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality announced it had issued eleven penalties, for a total of $73, 560, in the month of April. The largest penalty? A fine issued to an asbestos abatement company for improper and illegal asbestos removal.

April’s largest penalty was issued to Performance Abatement Services, Inc., a DEQ-licensed asbestos abatement contractor. The penalty was issued in connection with a series of asbestos violations that occurred while the company was carrying out an abatement project in September 2007 at the Candalaria Mall in Salem.

The Oregon DEQ first became aware of the asbestos violations when agency representatives carried out a compliance inspection on September 12, 2007. The inspector noticed that ceiling tiles containing asbestos had been removed and packaged for disposal by the abatement company, but had not been properly wetted down as Oregon law requires.

In addition, the DEQ representative noticed that asbestos sheet vinyl flooring, which was contained in waste bags on the site, had also not been wetted down properly.

As well as these problems, the DEQ also noticed that other materials that were potentially contaminated with asbestos, including carpet, wood, metal, and fiberglass insulation, that should have been considered asbestos-containing materials, had not been properly packaged in leak-proof containers. The contaminated waste was being hauled off the site and treated as normal uncontaminated demolition debris.

The DEQ says that around 12,000 square feet of asbestos-containing materials were removed from the project site.

According to the DEQ, “Because asbestos-containing waste material was allowed to accumulate at the mall site after the abatement and then hauled off site as demolition debris, workers and the public were potentially exposed to asbestos fibers released into the air.”

Wetting down asbestos-containing materials is an important part of abatement work because it reduces the possibility of asbestos fibers being released into the air (where they can be inhaled). Materials that were removed from the site contained between 2% and 20% Chrysotile asbestos.

According to the DEQ report, “Asbestos fibers are a respiratory hazard proven to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis, and asbestos is a danger to public health and a hazardous air contaminant for which there is no known safe level of exposure.”

The fine issued to Performance Abatement Services, Inc. totals $24,900. The asbestos contractor appealed the penalty but a hearing has not yet been scheduled.