Housing at New Mexico’s Cannon Air Force Base may contain dangerous asbestos, reported the Clovis News Journal earlier this week. A spokesperson for the base says that the Air Force is currently testing the units in its military housing after two unoccupied homes were discovered to contain asbestos.

Captain Rebecca Garcia told the media that approximately 30 additional homes would be tested for asbestos and that results would be available in June. In the meantime, the Air Force is prompting residents to leave any potential asbestos undisturbed.

“So far, asbestos in Cannon housing hasn’t been found in hazardous levels,” Garcia said.
“The risk for people living and working in military housing appears low.”

Encased asbestos is contained in some Cannon housing drywall, floor tile, roof shingles, and ceiling textures, according to Garcia. This type of asbestos should cause no hazard unless disturbed by drilling, sanding, cutting, scraping, or any similar procedure.

About 1,300 of Cannon’s more than 1,600 military housing units are on base and were built in the 1950s and 1960s, when asbestos use was at its peak, explained Garcia. Off-base housing was built in the 1990s and does not pose a hazard.

A decision on whether Cannon should remove the asbestos-containing materials depended on whether Cannon privatized its housing, Garcia explained. However, the privatization plan was put on hold two years ago because of the Base Realignment and Closure proceedings. Cannon was slated for closure. However, the plan could be resurrected if Cannon, as planned, is taken over by Air Force Special Operations in October, Garcia added.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 19th, 2007 at 9:04 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.