San Gabriel : Asbestos Cleanup Settlement
As part of a nationwide investigation of asbestos cleanups in schools, federal environmental officials and a Midwest company have reached a $100,000 settlement in a civil complaint involving inadequacies in the firm’s inspection of Dewey Avenue Elementary School.
Dewey was among schools in five California districts and one Arizona district in which U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials identified problems with inspections. Besides these school districts, similar federal complaints were made involving many school districts throughout the nation, EPA officials said.
In each case, EPA officials alleged that Hall-Kimbrell Environmental Services of Lawrence, Kan., had committed various violations of the federal laws governing the cleanup of asbestos.
In 1986, Congress required school districts to conduct inspections for asbestos and to undertake removal and cleanup of the material when necessary.
Asbestos was a commonly used construction material before it was banned in 1979. Exposure to asbestos can potentially cause cancer.
The complaint involving Dewey resulted from an EPA audit of the work being done at the school in 1991.
Dewey is a 25-year-old school in a one-story stucco building housing 340 students. The school is part of the Garvey School District.
No asbestos was ever found, and Garvey Director of Business Services Rolland Boceta said “none of the students were endangered.”
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