Administration Seeks to Rescind Asbestos Funds

House members who have been fighting the Reagan Administration over asbestos removal from the nation’s public schools said Saturday the Administration is refusing to spend $47.5 million appropriated by Congress last year to help pay for cleanup of the cancer-causing material.

The proposed budget for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 asks Congress to go along with an Administration decision not to spend the funds, which were earmarked for poor school districts with asbestos problems.

The money was part of a legislative package, approved by Congress and signed by President Reagan, designed to put teeth into the Environmental Protection Agency’s frequently criticized effort to oversee removal of asbestos from schools.

“Funds are unnecessary because prior appropriations have greatly reduced the problem, and many states have their own (removal) programs,” the EPA said in its fiscal 1988 budget proposal sent to Congress last week.

31,000 Schools

But House members who have been fighting for asbestos removal disagree, saying the EPA’s own studies indicate that the carcinogen is present in 31,000 schools attended by about 15 million children.

“The asbestos-in-schools problem is as critical today as it has ever been,” according to Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), Rep. Norman F. Lent (R-N.Y.) and Rep. James J. Florio (D-N.J.).

They made the statement in a letter to EPA Administrator Lee M. Thomas, which was made public Saturday.

Asbestos, a proven cancer-producing substance, was once used widely as a building material and insulator. Its fibers, when dislodged into the air, are especially harmful when breathed by young people.

Congress has 45 days to review the Administration’s plan to rescind the appropriation. Florio, chairman of the Energy and Commerce subcommittee that helped draft the 1986 legislation, said it is unlikely that Congress will agree with the Administration request.