A retired teacher from Bridger, Mont. (near Billings), who had students remove asbestos tiles with their bare hands and without benefit of the proper protective clothing, has pleaded guilty to a federal regulatory violation in the state of Montana.

According to an article in the Great Falls Tribune, Randal J. Ecker admitted last Thursday that he failed to send the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a written notice of a cleanup plan in 2003. Sentencing in the case is scheduled for late August.

The article notes that Ecker had five special education students remove the tiles at a district school after the project was approved by the school district’s superintendent. The superintendent claims he was not aware of the presence of asbestos in the tiles. Asbestos is commonly found in both floor and ceiling tiles in school buildings constructed before the mid 1970s.

Though the students wore some protective clothing, EPA officials note that the respirators and face masks donned by the five students are not of the type that can protect individuals from inhaling dangerous asbestos fibers.

In a separate case, the parents of the five students forged a lawsuit against the school district, which settled the civil suit with a $250,000 payment to each student involved in the removal of the tiles.

A Texas contractor working on the demolition of base housing at New Mexico’s former White Sands Missile Range will most likely be cited by the state Environment Department for failure to notify them before demolishing buildings that contained dangerous asbestos.

An article in New Mexico Business Weekly states that Border Demolition and Environmental Inc. was hired by White Sands to clean up asbestos waste uncovered by another contractor at the former base in the southern portion of New Mexico. However, the company failed to let the New Mexico Environment Department know that the work was taking place and failed to account for the whereabouts of several bags of asbestos waste from the project.

According to Jim Norton, division director of the Environmental Protection Division, the managers at White Sands and the contractors from Border Demolition were aware of the presence of concrete asbestos pipe at the project site but failed to inform the department of its presence. Such notification is required by state law and the state would need to give its nod of approval before demolition could begin at any site that contains asbestos, Norton explains.

Border Demolition and Environmental may receive a fine of up to $15,000 per day for failure to file the proper required notice and up to $5,000 per day for solid waste violations for failing to account for the missing bags of asbestos. White Sands and other contractors on the project also could face enforcement actions, the article explains.

Reports indicate that James Hardie Industries has already spent in excess of $6 million in legal fees to defend themselves in a case brought against them by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), claiming that the company grossly under-funded a trust fund meant to compensate victims of asbestos diseases caused by Hardie’s products. The case is expected to come to trial in late September and last well into the new year.

According to an article in the Australian newspaper The Age, an annual report filed this week by the company said: “Losses and expenses arising from the ASIC proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, liquidity, results of operations and cash flows.”

“ASIC is suing the Dutch parent company, the former Australian parent company and eight former executives and directors involved in the 2001 establishment of an asbestos compensation trust which the ASIC claims will in no way meet the compensation needs of those suing the company for asbestos exposure,” the article states.

Already this year, the fund has paid $74 million to asbestos sufferers, some of whom were Hardie employees and others who were exposed to asbestos while using the asbestos-containing products manufactured by the company.

According to the article, a report from KPMG Actuaries estimates that claim payments will be $81 million in 2008-09 and $83 million during the following financial year. James Hardie continues to transfer funds to the trust under new compensation agreements.

The eight former company executives and Board of Directors members maintain that they are innocent and had no intention of under-funding the trust. Experts say the Australian taxpayer may wind up footing the bill if ASIC fails to prove its allegations of “misleading or deceptive conduct in relation to shares and breaches of director’s duties.”

At the Montclair Township Council meeting this week, parents asked the council members to approve an assessment of potential asbestos within Renaissance Middle School. Distressed parents claim that a thorough evaluation of the school structure is long overdue. The crisis at Renaissance began months ago after students complained to their parents about dust and debris in their lunch room, which had been under construction.

Montclair Mayor Jerry Fried promised to communicate with the Board of Education about the submittal of a “tentative timeline” related to asbestos in the middle school, and parents demanded that the timeline be completed and available to council members within 30 days.

Mayor Fried stated that the council could not intervene directly because Renaissance Middle School is not within their jurisdiction.

“What we have to do is understand what’s gone wrong in the communication between the Board of Education and the parents.” Fried said.

Parents of Renaissance students have formed their own group called Concerned Parents of Renaissance, or CPR. Member Helene Richman was concerned about the lack of communication and echoed the fear of all parents that their children may have been exposed to asbestos while at school.

“Is it legal for children to eat in an active construction site?” asked Richman.

Exposure to asbestos has been linked to the eventual development of mesothelioma, a deadly cancer that attacks the lining of the body’s internal organs and has no known cure. Asbestos fibers can lie latent inside the body for decades before an individual will begin to experience symptoms associated with the disease, which is of great concern for parents who have teenage children that may have been exposed.

The Township Council has set aside $10,000 for a possible asbestos assessment.

The discovery of asbestos at the site of the London 2012 Olympic Stadium has temporarily halted its construction, reports an article on SI.com, a CNN network site.

According to the article, work on one section of the foundation of the stadium had to be stopped in order to protect workers from exposure to the toxic material, reported the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) last week. Exposure to hazardous asbestos can cause serious pulmonary diseases later in life, including asbestosis and mesothelioma. Work on the rest of the site continues as scheduled, the article noted.

“The health and safety of the work force is our No. 1 priority,” said Lawrence Waterman, the ODA’s head of health and safety. “We are working with the relevant authorities and expect work to restart progressively as protective measures are put in place over the next few days.”

Waterman notes that the delay shouldn’t cause any problems as work on the stadium started three months earlier than planned. Any asbestos concerns are currently being addresses and the foundation work is already half finished, he adds.

Building inspectors in Goldsboro, Wayne County, NC are trying to assure residents that a massive asbestos removal project at a local Days Inn will not put their health in jeopardy.

Though workers will be appearing in full protective gear, covering them from head to toe, Goldsboro Chief Building Inspector Ed Cianfarra has been telling residents who live or work near the motel not to worry.
“It is a highly controlled process,” Cianfarra said. “They will have pressurized tents. They will have air monitors. They will have tunnels where they filter the air. It is completely safe.”

He told the Goldsboro News-Argus that he “just wants to make sure that people know the reason for the work and what the job will entail before the process begins.”

The problem, he explained, is that the motel is full of a lot of asbestos. “It is the largest amount of asbestos I have seen in one place in the 27 years I have been with the city,” Cianfarra said.

The major source of the problem, he noted, is drywall mud that contains asbestos, used to fashion textured walls inside the units. That means, Cianfarra explained, “the mud may have made the rooms look better, but now every wall in the motel has about 5 percent asbestos in it.”

Because of the presence of asbestos, the walls can’t just be sanded down. Certain precautions have to be taken, and the removal process is a highly technical one that must be performed by licensed abatement professionals, Cianfarra stressed.

“It will take some time for these men to do this,” he said. “It may take them 30 days, and it may take them 60 days.”

“It is my job to make sure all of the asbestos is gone, and they do that in the right way,” Cianfarra added.

A San Francisco-area man is facing a fine and possible prison sentence after being convicted of several violations of the Clean Air Act in conjunction with improper asbestos removal and disposal.

According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Wassim Mohammad Azizi of Tracy (Calif.), age 37, was found guilty of three counts of violating the Clean Air Act in connection with the razing of a vacant, two-story wooden building he owned at 27794 Mission Blvd. in the neighboring town of Hayward.

At the conclusion of a five-day trial in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, a federal jury determined that Azizi “failed to notify the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District that the demolition in late 2002 and early 2003 would result in the release of asbestos.”

It was also established that Azizi “failed to keep wet and contain the regulated asbestos-containing material in leak-tight containers.”

Improper removal of asbestos coupled with improper storage and disposal can lead to the release of dangerous asbestos fibers, which may have been inhaled by workers or others in the vicinity of the building during the demolition process. Asbestos is a known carcinogen and can cause such pulmonary diseases as asbestosis – a scarring of the lungs, and malignant mesothelioma, a serious and fatal cancer.

Last month, Governor Tom Pawlenty of Minnesota signed his name to a bill allowing for $4.9 million to be spent to study mesothelioma and its connection to the taconite miners of the state’s Iron Range.

According to an article in the Hibbing Daily Tribune, Pawlenty had previously threatened to veto the bill because he was in disagreement with the way it was to be funded. However, after finding alternate funding, the governor wholeheartedly endorsed the study, which will be primarily conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota.

“Governor Pawlenty believes it’s very important that this study moves forward and is pleased we were able to reach a compromise on an acceptable funding source,” said Alex Carey, the governor’s press secretary. “Utilizing $4.9 million from the assigned risk plan ensures the study is funded in a way that will not increase costs on employers, which was our concern about the previous version that would’ve tapped the Workers Compensation Fund.”

Pawlenty had feared that using the Workers Compensation Fund would have put an extra strain on Minnesota businesses.

“This is a big win for us,” said Rep. Tom Anzelc, DFL-Balsam Township, who promoted the bill along with its authors, Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, and Sen. Dave Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm.

It is expected that the study will be completed by 2013, according to Jeff Mandel, a University faculty member who is in charge of the study. “It will answer, once and for all, what is causing mesothelioma to occur in taconite workers,” he noted.

The study should also identify other diseases caused by taconite dust, identify any secondary effects or threats to other members of the community and recommend possible prevention methods.

”This will be the first in-depth look at the relationship between taconite and mesothelioma,” Rukavina said. That’s because the taconite process was developed at the University of Minnesota and the first mines were in Minnesota, he noted. “So if there was any place that taconite induced mesothelioma would start showing up it would be here.”

“Mesothelioma is a slow-growing disease,” Rukavina stressed, “so it wouldn’t be an issue right away. But it started showing up. So now the question is did it start showing up because of commercial asbestos or because of the dust?”

With all procedural issues solved, the New South Wales Supreme Court has cleared the way for the trial of home building products company James Hardie and 10 of its directors.

According to an article in The Australian, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) alleges that the directors did not exercise sufficient care and diligence in questioning executives in 2001 about whether an independent trust fund into which Hardie separated off its asbestos liabilities would have enough money to meet claims of future asbestos disease victims.

With pre-trial issues out of the way and barring any further complications, the trial is now expected to begin on September 29, with the first witnesses being called by October 2. The prosecution has scheduled more than 50 witnesses to appear at the trial, which is expected to last for several months.

Justice Peter Young, the presiding judge for the case, said he expected the main witnesses to appear for between a half-day and two days, and he hoped ASIC would be able to complete its witness hearings by the Christmas break. If this timetable holds, the defense would start calling witnesses sometime in January.

ASIC is seeking bans on the so-called “James Hardie 10” to keep them from running companies, and hopes to impose fines for their role in the company’s asbestos compensation scandal.

For years, Hardie resisted putting more money in the asbestos fund, even though they were warned that that the existing fund would not be able to cover all claims made by victims of asbestos diseases caused by Hardie products. Because asbestos diseases like mesothelioma take up to 40 years or more to develop, the fund will need to be solvent for many more years.

A Utah man who worked as a machinist in both Utah and Illinois has filed a lawsuit in Madison County, Ill. against 59 defendants, alleging that they caused his exposure to asbestos and subsequently his development of mesothelioma.

According to an article in the Madison-St. Clair Record, George Geisler was employed as a machinist in various locations from 1978 until his retirement. The plaintiff claims that during the course of his employment and during home and automotive repairs he was “exposed to and inhaled, ingested or otherwise absorbed asbestos fibers emanating from certain products he was working with and around.”

He names 59 defendant corporations in the suit, including such well-known companies as Bondex International, CBS, Ford Motor Company, General Electric, General Motors, Goodyear, Honeywell International, Ingersoll-Rand, John Crane, Owens-Illinois, and Philips Electronics.

“The plaintiff’s exposure and inhalation, ingestion or absorption of the asbestos fibers was completely foreseeable and could or should have been anticipated by the defendants,” the complaint states.

Geisler, who was diagnosed with mesothelioma in February, claims the defendants knew about the dangers of asbestos yet continued to use the mineral, even when reasonable substitutes were available.

The plaintiff also suffers “great physical pain and mental anguish, and also will be hindered and prevented from pursuing his normal course of employment, thereby losing large sums of money,” the complaint states.

According to the article, he is seeking at least $250,000 in damages for negligence, willful and wanton acts, conspiracy, and negligent spoliation of evidence among other allegations.

“In addition to compensatory damages, an award of punitive damages is appropriate and necessary in order to punish the defendants for willful, wanton, intentional and reckless misconduct and to deter them and others from engaging in like misconduct in the future,” the complaint states.