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Granholm to End Inspections & Enforcement on Demolition/Renovation Asbestos Emitters

by: asagady

Mon Mar 23, 2009 at 10:11:19 AM EDT

( - promoted by Eric B.)

Granholm Plans to End MDEQ Policing of Cancer-Causing Asbestos Emissions from Demolition and Renovation Operations

Governor Jennifer Granholm's proposed Fiscal 2009-2010 budget eliminates Michigan inspections and enforcement of Federal Clean Air Act emission control requirements on asbestos-related demolition, renovation and waste disposal operations.

Although the federal rules requiring control measures would remain legally binding, neither Michigan DEQ nor U.S. EPA would run effective inspection, enforcement and complaint response to ensure compliance with the rules after the Granholm asbestos program cut is made.

Demolition and renovation operators would not face effective enforcement since U.S. EPA is not prepared to field an asbestos inspection/enforcement program that would approach the present state efforts.

asagady :: Granholm to End Inspections & Enforcement on Demolition/Renovation Asbestos Emitters

BRIEFING

Asbestos is a dangerous environmental and workplace carcinogenic (cancer-causing) physical agent.   Asbestos causes lung cancer, mesothelioma (cancer of the pluera - lining of the lung) and asbestosis.   Minor, incidental, non-occupational exposures to asbestos have been associated with mesothelioma after latency periods as long as (or longer than) 40 years.

Ending asbestos emissions control enforcement will dramatically increase asbestos emissions from demolition and renovation activities, jeopardizing worker and public health. Mishandling of asbestos waste will also increase asbestos emissions from waste hauling vehicles and landfill operations.

The Federal Clean Air Act provides for National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPS) to control hazardous pollutants like asbestos.   At the present time, Michigan has adopted these standards into MDEQ rules and MDEQ enforces these requirements on demolition and renovation operations.
While EPA has the power and authority to enforce the federal asbestos rules independently, most of these asbestos requirements are enforced by states.

The asbestos control rules covering the demolition and renovation operations require the following types of conduct and work practices for regulated asbestos materials:

-   Those planning asbestos renovation and demolition operations must conduct a complete, thorough site survey to identify the presence of all regulated asbestos-containing material at a site.

-   Affected facilities and entities under the rule are widespread and wide in scale; affected facilities include bridges, tunnels, docked ships, military installations, industrial sites, schools, post office and government buildings, apartment buildings with 5 or more units, certain condominiums/cooperatives, urban renewal projects, highway construction, shopping malls, amusement parks, jail/prisons, parking garages, nursing/disabled homes, farms, churches, and others.

-    MDEQ must receive a prior notice of planned renovation and demolition operations involving asbestos materials.

-   If an operation is subject to the requirements, regulated asbestos materials must be removed prior to demolition or renovation

-   Removal operations must use dust reduction and contamination control techniques designed to limit emissions, worker exposure and site contamination.

-   Waste disposal of regulated asbestos waste must take place according to the rules with requirements on packaging, labeling, transport and disposal to prevent worker and public exposure.

Practical Considerations

U.S. EPA cannot effectively run the Michigan asbestos control effort from its enforcement offices in Chicago.   It is a difficult enough for MDEQ to run this activity from MDEQ district offices.   The idea of “turning back the program to the feds” as is being considered for wetlands regulations in Michigan doesn’t work at all for asbestos enforcement.   The ending of state asbestos rule enforcement means a de facto deregulation of the demolition and renovation industry from the current asbestos rule requirements in Michigan.

Michigan would join Alaska and Idaho as the only other states not presently enforcing federal asbestos NESHAPS requirements.

Non-enforcement of asbestos requirements can be expected to drive the most conscientious and competent asbestos abatement and demolition contractors who do follow rules from Michigan as competition from others who do not properly comply with rules and who fear no enforcement gain a competitive economic advantage in the marketplace.

The Granholm MDEQ asbestos enforcement cut will promote a "wild west" approach in our State in the demolition industry and other segments of the construction industry when it comes to asbestos emissions.   With the economy in decline, many parties with heavy equipment formerly occupied in construction businesses are entering the demolition business with little or no training on the asbestos matter.   There is high potential for such operators to create several and/or repeated public health hazard site incident emergencies from asbestos air and structure contamination resulting from improper demolition/renovation techniques.

Environmental Justice and Multi-Media Environmental Aspects

Ending the MDEQ asbestos enforcement is a decision likely to disproportionately and adversely affect members of the public living in economically disadvantaged areas and racial/ethnic groups living in such areas.   These include the urbanized central cities and older suburbs of Michigan’s largest urbanized centers. Many of the demolition and renovation operations are in urbanized areas of Detroit-Wayne County, Pontiac and other EJ communities.   The loss of asbestos emissions control enforcement will be a tremendous setback for the Michigan environmental justice movement and EJ communities.

Effective asbestos remediation, removal and waste disposal is a lynchpin of effective industrial brownfields site recovery.   If there is no inspection and enforcement to ensure proper asbestos remediation with demolition/renovation operations at industrial brownfield sites, there will be little or no assurance of environmental safety during such operations and for remediated site occupants later.

For neighborhood architectural conservation and building re-utilization efforts, there will be little assurance of environmental safety of renovated structures for human occupation if there is no enforcement of asbestos remediation requirements.

Granholm's office has not released any statewide population-at-risk exposure estimate or quantitative excess cancer incidence risk assessment determination on the decision to end the asbestos inspection and enforcement program.   As a result, there is presently no estimate of the numbers of individuals per year who will contract lung cancer, mesothelioma and/or asbestos as a result of the Governor’s decision to end asbestos inspections and enforcement.   Failure to have such an estimate means the Governor's decision has been made without consideration of the expected health impacts to Michigan citizens.

Michigan DEQ Air Quality Division Asbestos Control - by the numbers:

3400 –   Number of asbestos program site notices in fiscal 2008

3 -    Number of Michigan DEQ Staff with Primary Responsibility on Asbestos Control

$250,000 -    Appropriated general fund dollars for asbestos rule enforcement in 2008

$100,000 -    Amount of EPA grant to Michigan in 2008 for asbestos rule enforcement for total program expenditure of $350,000; this grant would be lost to the State.

411 -    Number of unannounced asbestos compliance inspections conducted by MDEQ in 2008

73 -    Number of citizen complaints about asbestos investigated in 2008

53 -    Number of asbestos violation notices issued in 2008

98 -    Number of educational presentations given by MDEQ staff on asbestos control requirements

$800,000 -   Amount of fines collected by MDEQ for asbestos violations in last six years

11 -    Number of felony counts in a recent MDEQ criminal enforcement action involving asbestos demolition.

Relevant Web Links:

Michigan DEQ asbestos control page

http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3310_4106-11856--,00.html
EPA asbestos page:

http://www.epa.gov/asbestos//pubs/help.html

ATSDR asbestos page

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/substances/toxsubstance.asp?toxid=4

Fiscal analysis on MDEQ budget....see number 5 for mention of
asbestos program cut

http://www.sagady.com/stuff/BudgetAnalysisFY2010HB4439.pdf

OSHA asbestos site:

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/asbestos/hazards.html

Action Steps

1. Call your state representative and senator

2. Write to Governor Jennifer Granholm

3. Write a letter to the editor.

4.   If your state legislator is on a MDEQ Appropriations subcommittee, your voice will be particularly important for being heard.

Tags: environmental justice, public health, infrastructure, asbestos, environment, Michigan, (All Tags)

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Granholm to End Inspections & Enforcement on Demolition/Renovation Asbestos Emitters | 1 comments

Media Advisory -- Physician Experts on Asbestos (0.00 / 0)

Media Advisory - Physician experts on asbestos public health and medical effects

For those media members writing about the Granholm proposal to
end asbestos emission control inspections and enforcement
in Michigan.....

Here are two physician experts available for media interviews
and background information on the likely medical and public
health consequences. Both are pulmonary physicians and
occupational and environmental medicine specialists.

Michael R. Harbut, MD, MPH, FCCP
CoDirector, National Center for Vermiculite and Asbestos-Related Cancers
Karmanos Cancer Institute
Wayne State University
Chief, Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine
118 N. Washington
Royal Oak, Michigan 48067-1751
248.547.9100
M1har@aol.com

Kenneth D Rosenman, MD
Professor of Medicine
Chief of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Michigan State University
117 West Fee Hall
East Lansing, Michigan 48824
Tel 517 353-1846
Fax 517 432-3606
To schedule a clinic appt. 517 353-4941
web address: www.oem.msu.edu
rosenman@msu.edu

In addition to being a occupational and environmental medicine
physician, Dr. Harbut is also an industrial hygienist.

Dr. Rosenman is responsible for tracking all occurrences of
occupational disease in the State of Michigan, and is a former
New Jersey occupational health regulator.

by: asagady @ Mon Mar 23, 2009 at 09:48:01 AM CDT

Granholm to End Inspections & Enforcement on Demolition/Renovation Asbestos Emitters | 1 comments

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