Leaked Documents Reveal EPA Employees' Outrage Over Fort Worth's Experimental Asbestos Removal Method

Public Health Experts and Environmental Advocates Decry Building Demolition Proposal as Public Health Threat

Internal documents evaluating an experimental asbestos removal plan leaked by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employees to two national public interest law firms -- Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ) -- reveal EPA employees' outrage over a proposal by the City of Fort Worth, Texas, to demolish a motel complex using a new building demolition method that is far weaker than the one currently required by federal regulations. The eight leaked documents -- made public on May 25, 2004 on TLPJ's web site, www.tlpj.org, describe this method as a potentially dangerous human health experiment that should be, but has not been, reviewed by an ethics panel. Public health experts and environmental advocates decry the new "Fort Worth Experiment" as a public health threat that could expose asbestos removal workers and people living near the test site -- the Cowtown Inn, a seven-building compound abandoned for 15 years in east Fort Worth -- to an unseen but deadly peril.

Exposure to asbestos via inhalation can lead to an often-fatal form of lung cancer called mesothelioma and other asbestos-related illnesses. The City of Fort Worth has requested permission from the U.S. EPA to violate federal regulations issued under the Clean Air Act that are in place to protect workers and the public from asbestos exposure when facilities which contain asbestos are demolished. Those regulations, which are proven safe and effective, require asbestos to be contained and removed prior to demolition. Instead, the City is proposing to use an unproven method that involves nothing more than wetting down the building with a fire hose to limit asbestos fibers from escaping the demolition site.

“This is an outrageous proposal because the only safe level of exposure to asbestos is zero,” said Richard Lemen, Ph.D., former Deputy Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. “Even extremely low levels of exposure to asbestos can cause cancer. Because the City cannot guarantee the safety of the workers, the surrounding neighbors, or nearby school children, this project is an unethical human health experiment with a deadly toxin.”

The leaked documents reveal strong objections by EPA employees over the risks posed by the unproven but relatively cheap “Fort Worth Method.” For example, agency documents obtained by TLPJ and NRDC show that:

· According to senior scientists on EPA’s Asbestos Coordinating Team (ACT), which has also reviewed public exposure to asbestos from the World Trade Center collapse in New York City and asbestos mining in Libby, Montana, the assumptions underlying the Ft. Worth method “are not clearly supported by scientific studies.” (March 2004 Asbestos Coordination Team Comments, p. 7). One ACT scientist stated that the Ft. Worth method would allow “unacceptable” residential exposures to asbestos at a level “commonly considered to require emergency response on behalf of the U.S. EPA.” (March 18, 2004 Weis Memo, p. 1).

· According to a senior EPA public health physician and toxicologist who is the ACT’s Co-Chair, “given that this government research is being conducted in a populated area and may result in increased exposure and resultant health risks to a known human carcinogen for the surrounding community, this proposed study should be submitted to an independent review by an appropriate [ethics] review board.” (May 10, 2004 Miller Memo, p. 2).

· According to EPA’s own summary of comments from peer review scientists, the Ft. Worth Method documents “do not ensure that releases will be detected,” “do not ensure that releases will be controlled,” “do not ensure sufficient and fully informed community involvement,” and “do not have adequate remediation plans.” (May 13, 2004 Executive Summary on Draft ACT General Comments Table, p. 1).

“EPA’s approval of this method is tantamount to approving an illegal experiment on human beings,” said Dr. Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist at NRDC. “It likely would expose workers on the site and residents in surrounding neighborhoods to high levels of a known carcinogen – without their full knowledge or consent. It’s scientifically indefensible and morally repugnant.”

In accordance with the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency established the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants to protect the general public from exposure to airborne contaminants. Asbestos was one of the first hazardous pollutants regulated under these regulations. EPA made a tentative decision in January 2004 that, after completion of a peer review process, it was “prepared to issue a formal enforcement discretion letter” to the City, thereby promising not to sue Fort Worth for violating the Clean Air Act if it goes forward with the proposed demolition method. EPA’s final decision on issuing this letter is expected in June or July 2004.

The City is promoting its method as a demolition model in other communities across the country.

“If the Fort Worth Method is approved, it would set a dangerous national precedent,” said Neil Carman, Clean Air Program Director of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club in Austin, Texas. “There are thousands of old, asbestos-laced buildings in urban areas that could be torn down this way.”

The City of Fort Worth is scheduled to demolish the Cowtown Inn in July 2004. A Handley Community Forum regarding the proposed demolition took place at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 15 at the Handley Church of Christ, 3029 Handley Drive (between Church and Routt). 

An EPA Open House regarding the proposed demolition is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 24 at the Handley Community Center in east Fort Worth, Texas.

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The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, non-profit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has more than 550,000 members, served from offices in New York, Washington, Santa Monica and San Francisco. More information is available at NRDC’s Web site, www.nrdc.org.

Trial Lawyers for Public Justice is the only public interest law firm dedicated to using trial lawyers’ skills and resources to advance the public good. Founded in 1982, TLPJ utilizes a network of more than 3,000 of the nation’s outstanding trial lawyers to pursue precedent-setting and socially significant litigation. TLPJ has a wide-ranging litigation docket in the areas of consumer rights, worker safety, civil rights and liberties, toxic torts, environmental protection, and access to the courts. TLPJ is the principal project of The TLPJ Foundation, a not-for-profit membership organization headquartered in Washington, DC, with a West Coast office in Oakland, California. The TLPJ web site address is www.tlpj.org.