Asbestos Found at University of Wyoming

Officials at the University of Wyoming announced that debris from recent demolition work on one of the campus buildings contains asbestos. The dismantling of the Bureau of Mines Building on the Laramie campus forced loose asbestos material into the air, the school reported to the state's Department of Environmental Quality.

The agency issued a citation to the school for its failure to carry out an asbestos inspection on the building. The school also did not notify students, faculty or workers about the potential presence of asbestos at the site, nor did they remove the toxic material from the structure before beginning the demolition process, according to DEQ reports.

State investigators also found that the school did not employ workers trained in proper asbestos removal procedures. The violation notice the agency issued to the school also made note of how workers did not dampen the debris piles so that the asbestos fibers would not become airborne and that they did not place loose asbestos pieces in sealed containers before hauling them from the site. The notice did not state whether any of the nearby campus buildings were sealed off during the process, whether any students or other university personnel were directly exposed to asbestos, or the status of the cleanup project's completion.

The head of the DEQ's division on air quality, David Finley, noted the serious nature of the violation in a letter sent to the school's director of campus maintenance, Frank Burrows, dated September 28. Mr. Finley said that he is considering pursuing charges against the school through the state's Attorney General's office. He also said that he is also recommending that the state file a civil suit against the school to recover the costs of the cleanup efforts.

Keith Guille, a spokesman for the Department of Environmental Quality, stated that the agency sent inspectors to visit the site on June 24. As a result of their findings, university officials reportedly told DEQ inspectors that they would have all debris containing asbestos removed from the site within forty-eight hours. The department did not follow up to check if the school completed the task.

According to Mr. Guille, the cleanup effort did not require the supervision of agency personnel, only the notification by school officials that the disposal of the hazardous substances was to take place. While the status of cleanup efforts at the site remains unclear, leaders with the university and the environmental bureaus are scheduled to meet later this month to discuss what went wrong and what steps both sides need to take. Press outlets have attempted to reach a spokesperson for the university, but have yet to receive a response.

As with numerous buildings constructed in the early years of the twentieth century, many of the structures on the Laramie campus have asbestos-containing materials in such places as ceiling tiles, floor tiles and plumbing insulation. Researches have established that long-term exposure to asbestos can lead to malignant mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that affects the fluid lining of the lungs.

Sources: Casper Star-Tribune, KIFI, CBS4 Denver

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