Federal Documents Show Asbestos Removal Method Unsafe

WASHINGTON, DC, May 27, 2004 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to allow the city of Fort Worth to demolish an abandoned building using a method that violates the Clean Air Act's asbestos abatement regulations, according to internal agency documents obtained and released by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice.

The groups warn the method could put the surrounding community at risk.

"EPA's approval of this method is tantamount to approving an illegal experiment on human beings," said Dr. Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist at NRDC. "It likely would expose workers on the site and residents in surrounding neighborhoods to high levels of a known carcinogen - without their full knowledge or consent."

The documents show that the EPA's Inspector General's Office and its own scientists, as well as independent experts, have condemned the proposed method as inadequate and unsafe. In addition, they indicate the agency and the city of Fort Worth have deceived city residents about the threat of exposure.

EPA has established stringent work practices in keeping with Clean Air Act regulations requiring containment of asbestos during demolition projects.

Federal rules generally call for removing asbestos containing materials prior to demolition, which can be costly.

But since 1999, Fort Worth has been seeking EPA approval of a different method, which relies on nothing more than partially wetting down a building with a fire hose during demolition in an attempt to prevent asbestos fibers from escaping the work site into surrounding residential neighborhoods.

The proposed method does not require the safe removal of asbestos-contaminated materials before demolition.

The city has told the neighborhood that its new technique is safe and that its monitoring program will ensure that no dangerous asbestos is released.

But the leaked internal EPA documents show that EPA scientists and independent experts maintain that the method is not safe, and that monitoring will not prevent airborne asbestos contamination.

The city's monitoring method, they say, will put workers at the site and local residents at significant risk during and following the demolition.

"EPA and Fort Worth would spend roughly the same amount of money, and waste a lot less time, if they did the right thing and protected the citizens of Fort Worth," said John Walke, the director of NRDC's Air Program. "We hope the scientists inside the agency will prevail and put a stop to the unethical experiment in Fort Worth."