Palmyra, Pennsylvania Asbestos Cleanup to Add $1M to Previous Cost

Palmyra, PA Asbestos Cleanup to Add $1M to Previous Cost

In December of 2008, voters in Palmyra, Pennsylvania were asked to approve a $9.88- million bond referendum to fund a variety of improvements at the district's three schools, the most urgent being asbestos removal at Charles Street School, which serves students from kindergarten through sixth grade.

The referendum was scheduled for Dec. 9 when the Palmyra Board of Education learned the state would fund almost 40 percent of the project if voters approved it, bringing the actual cost down to about $5.9 million, with $421,550 estimated for asbestos remediation.

Palmyra School District Superintendent Richard Perry described the renovations as "sorely needed", a statement that couldn't be truer, at least in terms of asbestos exposure among grade-school children. Asbestos, a fibrous mineral used widely in insulation, floor and ceiling tiles, and tile glues during most of the last century, is the primary culprit in diseases like asbestosis and mesothelioma.

Asbestosis, a debilitating respiratory disease, usually requires long exposure to sources of asbestos, though some individuals have been known to develop it over the course of a single year. Mesothelioma, or cancer of the mesothelial lining (in the chest and abdomen), however, requires only a single exposure. In fact, neither OSHA, the CDC, nor the American Cancer Society - the agencies charged with monitoring asbestos and asbestos-related diseases - has ever established minimum, safe levels of exposure. A day or a lifetime can trigger mesothelioma, which commonly lies dormant for several decades before producing symptoms severe enough to permit diagnosis.

By then, mesothelial cancers have so invaded tissue and vital organs that its victims are seldom given more than a year to live. Only ten percent survive more than five years, and those represent patients whose disease was caught early and treated aggressively.

Times being what they are, voters approved the referendum by a scant 13 votes. The bond will increase property taxes for residents by about $186 a year, but even in difficult times it seems a wise investment to remove the asbestos-containing floor tiles, pipe insulation, pipe fittings, and boiler-room plaster in the Charles Street School.

Even so, the asbestos remediation likely won't be complete when students return to school in September, since the recent discovery of a thin coating of asbestos inside plaster walls during this summer's renovation activities.

The asbestos coating, found in eight classrooms, two offices and several hallways in the oldest wing of the school, which dates to 1949, triggered an alert to the Pennsylvania Dept. of Health, the Department of Community Affairs, and other interested parties per the school's Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) plan, which is mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for all schools, whether private, parochial or public, regardless of the age of students.

Fortunately, no children were present when the discovery was made. They will be present when the asbestos is removed, however, and the school already has a plan in place that prevents the spread of asbestos fibers by encapsulation and a drilling regimen should workmen need to break into the walls for any reason.

Perry declined to say how many workmen were present during the discovery, for legal reasons, but assures that - since the asbestos was an integral part of the plaster - it does not pose the same risk as if it were in broken floor tiles, for example.

Unfortunately, the funds originally allocated for asbestos remediation will not cover these new encapsulation procedures, estimated to cost between $800,000 and $1 million, and the district's construction manager, Moorestown-based Greyhawk, omitted the cost when the project was bid because the school district's environmental consultant, Philadelphia-based Pennoni Associates, missed the line item in the report that noted asbestos in the walls.

Air tests conducted after cleaning have come back negative, and a new ventilation system - installed as part of overall renovation - will help insure that the Charles Street School's air remains free of asbestos contamination.

Perry has said that the district would rather remove the asbestos in the walls, if possible, and the district is searching for the funds to do so. Palmyra Mayor John Gural has expressed his opinion that Pennoni Associates should cover the additional costs and do whatever is necessary to rectify the asbestos contamination.

In the meantime, Perry has assured parents, the Charles Street School is safer than it has been since it was built 60 years ago.

Sources: Garrison Architects website, PhillyBurbs.com

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