The renovation project being conducted on an apartment building in Eugene, Oregon has been halted due to suspicions of improper asbestos removal. The Lane Regional Air Protection Agency and Eugene building inspectors have both issued notices of violation to the building managers and owner and are seeking the individuals who may have improperly and illegally removed asbestos over the summer months.

Inspectors stopped the work on the East 16th Street building after finding that workers were removing asbestos without the proper permit. Additionally, it was found that required safety procedures were not being followed. City officials have previously ordered an apartment building on Alder street to be vacated for similar violations at the start of the fall season.

Inspectors from the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency are in the process now of determining whether or not the building owner conducted improper removal of asbestos on additional Eugene apartment buildings over the summer.

A representative for the company, based out of California, has stated that asbestos has not been removed from any other properties and that they are paying a company that will provide tests and confirmation. The company that holds ownership of the apartments is challenging some of the violations charged against them.

A Wisconsin couple has filed an asbestos related lawsuit in the Madison County Court in Illinois. Amado Torres-Padron and Laurentina Torres are claiming that Amado Torres’ diagnosis of pleural mesothelioma is the result of working closely with asbestos-containing products while employed with various companies.

The couple alleges that while Amado was employed as a foundry worker, a railroad worker, and as a ranch hand he was exposed to dangerous, cancer-causing asbestos materials which he inhaled, leading to his development of mesothelioma. Amado was employed in these various positions between 1945 and the mid-1990’s in a number of states including Illinois, Texas, Kansas, and Wisconsin.

Asbestos was widely used in building materials in the railroad industry up until the 1970’s, at which point the use of asbestos become regulated due to the delayed dangers it posed to those working in close proximity to the materials. Asbestos can cause a number of related health problems, including mesothelioma.

Amado Torres-Padron and his wife filed the lawsuit on October 1 of this year.

The investigation into the explosion of a boiler located in Gutterson Fieldhouse on the University of Vermont campus will be put on hold for the time being due to asbestos removal in the boiler room. The boiler explosion occurred last Thursday during servicing being conducted by three University employees.

According to reports the explosion seriously injured one University employee while exposing nearly a dozen more to dangerous, cancer-causing asbestos materials. Immediately following the explosion both the Gutterson Fieldhouse and the Patrick Gymnasium were evacuated for a short time.

Records of boiler inspections point to the inspections being up to date but changes made to the Vermont boiler inspection program are being questioned by the Vermont State Employees Association. According to Doug Gibson with the states Employees Association, state inspectors were once in charge of inspecting boilers, but now inspectors hired by insurance companies are in charge of that task.

A contractor has been hired by the University of Vermont to remove not only the asbestos materials that were loosened up by the explosion, but all asbestos-containing materials existing in the boiler room.

The asbestos abatement project is expected to take approximately three weeks. Upon completion of the project investigators for both Burlington and the state will be allowed to continue their investigations into the cause of the explosion.

The Butte Silver Bow Courthouse in Butte, Montana may be approved for asbestos abatement, according to local officials. Asbestos-laden materials in the basement were discovered quite awhile ago, but there was no need to proceed with the costly removal process because the basement was not in use. Officials are now asking for approval so that the courthouse basement can be refinished and used for storage.

Bill Melvin, Civic Center Manager, said that lead removal had been conducted in the basement just two years ago, but no asbestos has been removed as of yet. Asbestos-containing insulation lines the extensive piping in the basement.

Melvin expects the project to cost approximately $9,000 and estimates that it will take about a week to remove all asbestos insulation upon approval. The city council is expected to make a determination regarding the abatement project at a meeting tonight.

Exposure to asbestos can lead to the onset of mesothelioma, a fatal cancer, as well as a number of other respiratory ailments, such as asbestosis.

An asbestos related investigation has begun involving the newly-finished recreation fields in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. Pieces of material containing harmful asbestos were found lying near the field, and officials have decided to launch an investigation to determine exactly how much asbestos may exist in the soil surrounding the area of the rec fields. According to reports, dangerous asbestos materials were found in close proximity to property lines located behind the fields, which are located adjacent to a railroad.

Officials suspect the recent removal of a fence at the Conrail railroad may have unearthed asbestos in the soil, which may have become airborne.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has yet to declare the site “contaminated” and ask for emergency cleanup funding, but precautions are being taken and area surrounding the site has been blocked off with plastic fencing.

A representative from Neglia Engineering, which handles the town’s engineering needs, stated that “The DEP specifically stated that it’s a non-emergent condition.”

The town has scheduled additional asbestos testing for the recreation fields as further precautions against the dangers of asbestos

A panel of three Ohio judges, all presiding over Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, threw out a total of 30,000 asbestos related injury claims on Monday after to a ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court last week regarding the upholding of certain limits on asbestos cases.

Judge Harry Hanna, who has handled thousands of asbestos-related cases in court, stated that the cases that were dismissed were “low priority cases,” deemed so because the plaintiff does not yet exhibit symptoms of serious asbestos-related diseases, such as asbestosis or mesothelioma cancer. Judge Hanna further stated that individuals whose cases were dismissed would be able to re-file their claims in the future if they begin to suffer from asbestos disease symptoms.

According to an Ohio law passed in 2004, in any asbestos lawsuit documentation must be provided detailing instances in which exposure to dangerous asbestos materials and/or fibers occurred, as well as evidence proving significant health problems related to such exposure.

Judge Hanna claimed that he and other local judges were asked by a defense lawyer handling asbestos cases in Cuyahoga County to dismiss “all those cases that lacked the required documentation” necessary to go further. Individuals who can prove that they are now suffering from asbestos-caused disease will be able to move forward with their lawsuits in court.

A former safety attorney working with the North Carolina Occupational and Safety Health Review Commission was allegedly fired from his position because of reports he made regarding asbestos in the building where he worked.

Gilbert Jackson, a former North Carolina safety official, made a complaint about asbestos in his workplace to the state labor department and claims that he was subsequently forced to retire from his position as a result of the complaint.

Jackson’s former employer stated that Jackson left his employment “based on his own free will” and that “he was not in any way forced out” of his position. According to Jackson’s own report he and his colleagues were relocated to a 37-year old office building in September of 2007, at which time Jackson witnessed air samples being taken in the building. Jackson inquired about the reasons for air quality monitoring and was told that asbestos had been detected in the air and that it would eventually have to be removed.

Jackson felt compelled to lodge a complaint with the North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Association because none of the workers in the building were made aware of the presence of asbestos, as required by OSHA and EPAs Clean Air Act. Jackson stated that he was told to back off or he would “have to go” after his employers discovered that he had been the one to complain. Jackson left the North Carolina Occupational and Safety Health Review Commission in April of 2008.

Following permission given to area residents by the Western Mineral Product Plant located on Madison Street in Minneapolis to use left over products from the company for landscaping needs eight years ago, environmental officials now have to conduct a cleanup and abatement of products containing deadly asbestos.

Cleanup and removal is concentrated around the former plant and nearby homes, but now, eight years later, environmental officials are focusing on the inside of area homes, which may also be contaminated.

One Minnesota Department of Health official told Minneapolis residents that “…we would like to go into people’s homes and look and see if there’s a possibility that walking through their yards, walking through their driveways, were they tracking in some asbestos fibers.”

Many Northeast Minneapolis residents close to the plant will soon be receiving letters from the Environmental Protection Agency notifying them that the interior of their homes must be checked for the presence of harmful asbestos fibers.

One resident of the area has stated that she is “still dealing” with the mess in her yard that was created following the initial discovery of asbestos eight years ago. Residents remain concerned that they may develop asbestos-related ailments, including mesothelioma cancer, as a result of the contamination in their area.

According to recent reports the construction of the new 92,700 square-foot Fairhope Elementary School in Baldwin County, Alabama will be put on hold due to the need to remove harmful asbestos-containing materials from the current Fairhope Middle School building. The old school was to be torn down, excluding the gym and the media center, but demolition crews discovered asbestos in three of the buildings prior to the start of the project.

The original Fairhope Middle School was built in the 1950’s at which time asbestos was widely used in building materials, including insulation and floor and ceiling tiles.

Virginia Wrecking Company has been hired to perform the demolition of the school as well as the asbestos abatement. The school board will be charged $17,000 dollars for the removal of asbestos materials in an area totaling approximately 5,250 square-feet.

Assistant Superintendent of the school board, Eddie Tyler, has admitted that the abatement will “likely cause delays” on the construction of the new elementary school, but he is “optimistic” regarding completion of the new structure sometime before the end of next year.

The transit agency in Florida’s Hillsborough County has plans in the works to spend thousands of dollars towards the removal of harmful asbestos materials from the county’s electric streetcars.

Maintenance workers in charge of working on the streetcars discovered that various electrical parts contained dangerous asbestos particles. Subsequent to the discovery officials at the transit agency ordered that the parts be replaced with non-asbestos containing parts. Exposure to asbestos, even trace levels, has been known to cause mesothelioma cancer.

Although the parts containing the asbestos are “unlikely” to pose a threat to workers, the agency will still begin swapping the parts for new ones within the next few months. Officials have not confirmed an exact cost for the project as of yet but Hillsborough Area Regional Transit spokesman, Ed Crawford, has stated that the project is likely to cost thousands of dollars.

The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit will be conducting the work on site, rather than following through with a $310,000 plan to move the streetcars to an alternative site where they would be sealed off while the work is being conducted. The work is set to begin as soon as the new parts arrive.