Firms in 11 States Accused of Asbestos Safety Violations

The Environmental Protection Agency accused demolition contractors in 11 states Tuesday of violating asbestos-removal safeguards in schools, restaurants and other buildings.

In one case, a contractor was charged with transporting wine tanks by helicopter from a winery in San Jose without removing asbestos insulation pads, causing asbestos particles to scatter over miles of countryside.

Civil lawsuits seeking unspecified damages were filed by the government against 45 companies and individuals, in addition to the New York City Board of Education.

Seen as Small Number

Officials said that the cases represent only a small number of the hundreds of construction projects where asbestos is being removed without proper safeguards.

The agency estimated that as many as half of the asbestos-connected demolitions and renovations conducted nationwide may not be in accordance with procedures required by federal air pollution laws.

Those laws require, for example, that asbestos be removed before demolition begins, that it be wetted down and enclosed in bags and that it be transported in covered trucks to approved disposal areas so that microscopic fibers are not spread through the air.

The inhalation of asbestos fibers is known to cause lung cancer; asbestosis, a scarring of the lung, and mesothelioma, a cancer of the chest and abdomen. Asbestos was used before the mid-1970s as insulation in many buildings. Today more than 730,000 buildings still contain some of the cancer-causing material, according to the government.

Justice Dept. Files Suits

At the request of the EPA, the Justice Department filed 13 civil suits Tuesday in U.S. district courts in 11 cities, accusing the defendants of violating asbestos-removal requirements, according to the agency.

Penalties for violating asbestos-removal requirements could range up to $25,000 per day of work for each violation. The EPA officials said more than $250,000 in civil fines may be sought in some of the cases, although specific damages to be sought have not been determined.

Besides California, the suits involved renovation or demolition projects on buildings in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nevada and Washington.

The defendants included the New York City Board of Education, cited for allegedly failing to report asbestos-removal work in 80 or more school buildings. It was not immediately clear whether removal requirements were violated at the schools, but the EPA officials said that without notification they had no way of determining if the jobs were being done properly.

Projects Listed

Among the projects cited in the suits were renovation projects at public schools in Woodinville and Kent, Wash.; a high school in Kansas City, Mo.; a junior high school in Holyrood, Kan., and colleges in Pittsburg, Kan., and Berea, Ohio.

Other cases involved asbestos-related renovation or demolition of a Nevada casino; an apartment building in Philadelphia; a boiler room at the Marine Corps base at Quantico, Va.; the Seattle-Tacoma Airport, and two Seattle restaurants.

The EPA crackdown comes weeks after a Harvard University study indicated that in many cases the improper removal of asbestos from buildings may pose more of a health risk than leaving the material in the building.