Company pays $227,700 penalty for asbestos violations

Wilmington, OH - A company has lost its court battle and was ordered to pay a $227,700 fine to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for violating several state asbestos emission control standards.

RLR Investments, LLC was ordered to pay the fine, the largest civil penalty ever collected for asbestos violations in the state, for its work in 2003 at the former Days Inn building, now home to the Urban Resort property. RLR was charged with failing to notify the proper authorities about its plans for an asbestos abatement project as well as other violations.

Between April and December 2003, the Regional Air Pollution Control Agency (RAPCA) performed multiple inspections of the worksite and discovered several asbestos violations. RAPCA inspectors were denied access to the site by the company on three occasions and on one of these occasions, they obtained a search warrant to gain access to the area.

The case was handled over to the state EPA for enforcement afterward. The attorney general's office settled the case on behalf of the agency for the $227,700 amount.

Of the award, $45,540 will be used to benefit the state EPA's Clean Disel School Bus program while the remaining amount will go to air pollution control programs.

Assistant Attorney General Robert James said his office was fulfilling its duty of assisting its partners in protecting its people from the dangers of improper handling of asbestos during construction work. He said the office hopes that the results of this case will prove to be an effective warning to other companies that engage in asbestos work in the future.

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