EPA Won’t Approve Dangerous Asbestos Demolition Experiment in Fort Worth

Community Opposition, Whistleblowers, and TLPJ and NRDC Disclosures Protect Public Health

John Walke of NRDC, Ft. Worth activist Rená Huguenin, and Jim Hecker of TLPJ at EPA Headquarters on July 21, 2004. Photo by Jonathan Hutson.

Responding to mounting community opposition to an asbestos removal experiment planned in Fort Worth, Texas, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on July 22, 2004 that it will not approve a test of the controversial "wet method" for demolition of the Cowtown Inn, an asbestos-laden motel complex. EPA made public its decision not to approve the test – which would have involved bulldozing a building while spraying it with a firehose to keep the asbestos dust down – one day after senior agency officials met with attorneys from two national public interest law firms, Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and a grassroots organization in east Fort Worth, the Handley Community for Environmental Justice (HCEJ).

"This is a huge victory for everyone who cares about people's health," said Rená Huguenin of HCEJ, who lives in the Handley neighborhood where the Cowtown Inn is located. "Because scientists agree there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos, and the experimental asbestos removal method known as the 'wet method' or 'Fort Worth method' provides less protection than is required by federal law, we call on the City of Fort Worth to stop dragging its feet and knock down the Cowtown Inn using approval federal safety standards – the same standards used in wealthier neighborhoods."

The City stated in a July 12, 2004 Fact Sheet posted on its web site, "The costs for traditional demolition of the Cowtown Inn could be borne by the City's general fund, but specific monies would need to be identified." 

At the meeting, Huguenin presented a petition signed by 627 Fort Worth residents, calling on Mayor Michael Moncrief and the City Council to use a safe method to demolish the Cowtown Inn and "stand up for community safety." She also presented a letter requesting a grant from the EPA to help the grassroots group pay for a public health expert and develop educational materials about "major unresolved issues concerning the safety of this project and the adequacy of the monitoring program."

The EPA officials who met with TLPJ, NRDC, and HCEJ – Thomas Skinner, Assistant Administrator of the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance and Richard Greene, Administrator of EPA Region 6 – said that EPA will consider the group's grant request, but would not provide Fort Worth with funds to demolish the Cowtown Inn using approved federal safety standards. EPA affirmed its commitment to public health and safety by declining approval for the experiment to go forward in Fort Worth or in populated neighborhoods of any other cities, such as St. Louis, where the method had been used illegally for several years without EPA approval. Instead, EPA indicated that it has contacted the U.S. Department of Defense to request assistance in finding a suitable location to conduct the test at a military installation remote from residential neighborhoods. If the wet method test proved successful, Fort Worth could later request that it be allowed to use the wet method to demolish the Cowtown Inn.

"We are encouraged that EPA agreed with our position that a military base in a remote location would serve as a better test location than a family neighborhood with houses, churches and schools nearby," said Jim Hecker, TLPJ's Environmental Enforcement Director. "However, we will hold EPA to its pledge to ensure that wherever the experiment is conducted, there will be meaningful opportunity for public comment on, and scientific peer review of, the test plans and test results."

"There was never any reason to put nearby residents – including children at a school next to the Cowtown Inn – at risk with this illegal, dangerous, and unethical experiment," said Hecker. "This decision vindicates EPA's own scientists, who criticized the City's proposal and made clear that the project poses serious health risks to the community."

Internal documents leaked to TLPJ and NRDC by EPA employees evaluating the experimental asbestos removal plan reveal EPA employees' outrage over the proposal to use the controversial building demolition method. 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. Exposure to asbestos via inhalation can lead to an often-fatal form of lung cancer called mesothelioma and other asbestos-related illnesses.

"It is important for cities to figure how to save costs on asbestos removal, but even more important to protect the health and safety of workers and nearby residents," said Terry Lynch, Health and Safety Director of the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators & Asbestos Workers, which spearheaded a door-to-door organizing campaign with HCEJ and affiliates of the Texas AFL-CIO to organize community forums and distribute thousands of public health flyers throughout the community. "Although we have no financial stake in whichever method the City uses, we have seen enough of our relatives and coworkers die of cancer caused by asbestos to know that you don't gamble with exposure to this unseen but deadly toxin."

In addition to Hecker and Walke, Steve Baughman Jensen and Scott Frost of Baron & Budd, P.C. in Dallas have been instrumental in providing pro bono legal assistance to HCEJ in its opposition to this experiment.

###

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.