EPA Takes Action to Stop Spread of Asbestos at Liberty Plant Maintenance Site in Lockport, N.Y.

EPA Takes Action to Stop Spread of Asbestos

at Liberty Plant Maintenance Site in Lockport, N.Y.

Contact: Michael Basile (716) 551-4410; basile.michael@epa.gov

(New York. N.Y. – Sept. 13, 2012) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has conducted emergency work to stop the spread of asbestos at the Liberty Plant Maintenance Inc. facility in Lockport, New York. The EPA took samples of soil to determine if asbestos from a badly deteriorating boiler house on the site has spread into the surrounding area. The EPA is awaiting results of the sampling and will use that information to determine the appropriate next steps in the cleanup. Asbestos is known to cause a form of lung cancer, especially when inhaled over long periods of time.

“The EPA’s first priority is protecting people’s health,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. “The EPA immediately restricted access to asbestos contaminated areas of the facility and is taking steps to stop the spread of asbestos into the community.”

The site is approximately1.5 acres and contains a 13,000 square foot former boiler house. This three-story masonry structure is falling apart and the asbestos within the building has deteriorated to a point at which it can easily be spread to various areas of the site. The current owner purchased the site in September 2010 and began to dismantle parts of the structure, which further disturbed contaminated areas of the building and is believed to have contributed to the spread of asbestos. Approximately 40 residences and a school building are located within 600 feet of the site. The New York State Department of Labor and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation have overseen work at the site since 2010 and requested EPA involvement in March 2012.

The EPA conducted an initial assessment in spring 2012 and immediately began negotiating with the property owner to either restrict access to the site or consent to allow EPA to do so. The EPA obtained legal access to the property on August 23, 2012 and began securing the site on August 27. Due to the threat posed by the asbestos and evidence that people were trespassing on the site, the EPA restricted access by installing a fence around the asbestos contaminated areas of the site. Areas of the building have been sprayed with a substance that hardens and traps the asbestos fibers in place. The EPA has also decontaminated a parking area, collected some sediment and soil from the parking area and placed it inside the boiler house. The building was examined by a structural engineer on September 6, 2012 to determine whether it is safe to allow workers to go inside the boiler house to clean up the asbestos.

Throughout the EPA’s work, the community will be kept informed and any member of the public that has questions or concerns may contact the EPA’s Community Involvement Coordinator, Michael Basile at 716-551-4410.

For more information about asbestos, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/asbestos.

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/eparegion2 and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.

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Supervisor of Michigan Town Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

Press release:

MEDIA CONTACT: Stacy Kika, 202-564-0906, kika.stacy@epa.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                
No. 12-OPA060

Supervisor of Michigan Town Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

WASHINGTON (August 3, 2012) - William Morgan, the former supervisor of Royal Oak Township, a suburb of Detroit, was sentenced in federal court to three years in prison. Mr. Morgan had previously entered a guilty plea to charges that he conspired to defraud the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), violate the Clean Air Act’s asbestos requirements, and commit bribery. Asbestos is a mineral fiber that has been used commonly in a variety of building construction materials. When asbestos-containing materials are damaged or disturbed by repair, remodeling or demolition activities, microscopic fibers become airborne and can be inhaled into the lungs, where they can cause serious health problems.

"It is reprehensible that a public official made asbestos abatement decisions based on a bribe, not on what was needed to protect the health of the community,” said Randall Ashe, special agent in charge of EPA’s criminal enforcement program in Michigan. “The sentence shows that government officials who attempt to line their pockets rather than carry out their responsibilities honestly will be prosecuted to the full extent to the law.”

“Any public official, in city or suburb, who works to enrich himself at the expense of the public will be detected and prosecuted,” U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade said.  “It is particularly disturbing when an official not only takes bribes but also endangers community health and the environment by allowing the bribes to influence abatement decisions.”

Morgan’s criminal conduct involved the awarding of a contract and distribution of federal funds that were intended to be used by communities for the improvement of blighted areas by removing dilapidated buildings. The funding was received through HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). Morgan, in addition to being Township supervisor, was also Royal Oak’s coordinator for NSP.

Prior to the awarding of the contract, Morgan had received a $10,000 bribe from Sureguard/PBM, one of the companies that submitted a bid for the demolition and asbestos removal of an abandoned theater on Eight Mile road. In return for the bribe, Morgan attempted to steer the contract to Sureguard/PBM. Despite Morgan’s efforts, Royal Oak’s Board of Supervisors awarded the contract to another company, which had submitted a lower bid.

During the demolition process, Morgan asked for and received cash payments of $500 and $1,000 from the owner of the company that had won the contract. Morgan received these payments under the belief that they were in return for his approval of a change order covering the asbestos abatement that fraudulently inflated the cost of the work.

One of Morgan’s co-conspirators, Terrance Parker, received a sentence of 21 months. Two other co-conspirators, Kendrick Covington and Marcus Brown have yet to be sentenced.

The case was investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), HUD’s Office of the Inspector General and EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division.

More information about EPA’s criminal enforcement program: http://www.epa.gov/oecaerth/criminal/index.html.

Illinois Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Clean Air Act Violations Involving Asbestos

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 26, 2012


Illinois Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Clean Air Act Violations Involving Asbestos

WASHINGTON – Duane “Butch” O’Malley, 59, of Bourbonnais, Ill., who was convicted by a federal jury on September 26, 2011, for the illegal removal, handling and disposal of asbestos from a Kankakee building in August 2009, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by Federal District Court Judge Michael McCuskey. O’Malley was also ordered to pay restitution of $47,086 to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) related to the clean-up of illegally disposed asbestos and ordered to pay a fine of $15,000. Asbestos is a mineral fiber that has been used commonly in a variety of building construction materials. When asbestos-containing materials are damaged or disturbed by repair, remodeling or demolition activities, microscopic fibers become airborne and can be inhaled into the lungs, where they can cause serious health problems, including lung cancer and mesothelioma.

“Asbestos must be removed in a safe and legal way in order to protect people's health and reduce the risk of exposure,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “The defendant’s actions endangered the health of his workers and the surrounding community and the sentence shows that those who violate critical environmental safeguards will be prosecuted.”  

“To increase his profits, a jury found that O’Malley knowingly disregarded federal environmental laws that require asbestos-containing materials be safely removed and properly disposed,” said U.S. Attorney Jim Lewis, Central District of Illinois. “This sentence is a consequence of the defendant’s flagrant disregard for his workers, the public, and the environment in exposing them to dangerous airborne asbestos fibers.”

During O’Malley’s trial, the government presented evidence that O’Malley, owner and operator of Origin Fire Protection, was hired by Michael J. Pinski in August 2009 to remove asbestos-containing insulation from pipes in a five-story building in Kankakee, Ill. that was owned by Pinski through his company, Dearborn Management, Inc. Evidence was presented that neither O’Malley nor his company was trained to perform the asbestos removal work and that O’Malley agreed to remove the asbestos insulation for an amount that was substantially less than a trained asbestos abatement contractor would have charged to perform the work. Further, O’Malley arranged for James A. Mikrut to recruit and oversee workers to remove the asbestos.

The government’s evidence showed that various provisions of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and EPA regulations were violated, including, failure to properly notify the EPA, failure to have trained on-site representatives present, failure to ensure the asbestos insulation was adequately wetted while it was being stripped and removed, failure to mark vehicles used to transport the asbestos containing waste material and failure to deposit the asbestos in a waste disposal site for asbestos. Instead, the asbestos insulation was stripped from the pipes while dry, and then placed in more than 100 large, unlabeled plastic garbage bags. The bags were then dumped in an open field in Hopkins Park, resulting in soil contamination and exposing the workers hired by O’Malley to dangerous asbestos-laden dust.

Under the CAA there are requirements to control the removal, handling and disposal of asbestos, a hazardous air pollutant. Any owner or operator of a renovation or demolition activity which involves removal of specified amounts of asbestos-containing material must comply with the EPA regulations.    

O’Malley was charged in June 2010 with five felony violations of the CAA, along with Michael J. Pinski, 42, of Kankakee, Ill., and James A. Mikrut, 49, of Manteno, Ill. Pinski entered a plea of guilty on Aug. 19, 2011, to one count of violation of the Clean Air Act. Mikrut pleaded guilty on Aug. 24, 2011, to five counts of violation of the CAA. The sentencing hearings for Pinski and Mikrut will be scheduled at a future date.  

The charges were investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, with assistance from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund Division. Assistant United States Attorney Eugene L. Miller and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney James Cha are prosecuting the case.

More information about EPA’s criminal enforcement program: http://www.epa.gov/oecaerth/criminal/index.html


R131

EPA Awards > $200K to Reduce Asbestos Exposure

EPA Awards Over $200,000 to the Oklahoma Department of Labor

to Reduce Exposure to Asbestos

(DALLAS – March 7, 2012) A grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will assist in reducing asbestos exposure in schools and state buildings in Oklahoma. The grant for $234,713, given to the Oklahoma Department of Labor (ODOL), will be used for inspections and encouraging compliance with the Asbestos in Schools Program which is designed to protect the health of school children and other occupants as well as the community. ODOL will complete 100 audit inspections in Oklahoma schools during 2012 and verify asbestos workers are properly trained and accredited prior to and during asbestos abatement work.

More information about the Asbestos in School Program is available at http://www.epa.gov/asbestos/pubs/asbestos_in_schools.html

Additional Information on EPA grants is available at http://www.epa.gov/region6/gandf/index.htm

More about activities in EPA Region 6 is available at http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/region6.html

EPA audio file is available at http://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/podcast/mar2012.html

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