Oregon Contractor Runs Afoul of DEQ Again on Asbestos

Brush Prairie, Oregon-based Able Contractors, Inc. received another fine on Tuesday, Sept. 29 - the second this year for asbestos-removal violations cited by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ.

The current fine, for $30,409, surrounds improper asbestos removal at a retirement facility in Newburg. According to the DEQ, Able failed to: submit a project notification in advance; failed to remove all visible asbestos before conducting air quality tests; failing to leave containment devices (plastic sealant) in place when air sampling was conducted; and failing to provide the DEQ with a required quarterly report on all asbestos abatement projects.
Able, which has been licensed as an asbestos abatement contractor since about 1999, has been penalized by the DEQ three times since 2001. A previous citation for failures, issued on April 30, assessed $17, 588 in fines for Able's failure to: properly state the method of abatement to be used on its project notification form; properly enclose the work area, and; perform final air sampling.

April's fines were assessed because Able, while working on a home in December of 2007, removed about 315 square feet of friable (broken) sheet vinyl that contained chrysotile asbestos.

Chrysotile is one form of asbestos. Other forms are amphibole (naturally occurring), tremolite, actinolite, anthophyllite, amosite and crocidolite. While amphibole asbestos, found in rock formations (particularly in California) is generally viewed by legislators as the most lethal form of asbestos, chrysotile is the one most commonly used in products imported from other countries, and the one primarily associated with pleural mesothelioma.

In 1989, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency limited the use of asbestos in domestic manufacture to one percent or less by volume, but imports from other countries can contain significant amounts of asbestos, and this is not regulated. Thus, imported brake pads, for example, can contain large amounts of asbestos.

Mesothelioma occurs as a cancer of the mesothelial tissues. In the lungs, it is called pleural mesothelioma, and this form is by far the most common, followed by peritoneal (abdominal) mesothelioma and pericardial (heart) mesothelioma, the next rarest form of mesothelioma after mesothelioma of the sexual organs; the tunica vaginalis testis in men, and the tunica serosa uteri in women.

Pleural mesothelioma typically follows a pattern of long dormancy - up to five decades - during which patients experience few definitive symptoms. After that, the symptoms become quite noticeable, often resulting in patients seeking medical help. At that stage, a diagnosis is readily obtained through a simple X-ray. Unfortunately, by that time the cancer has invaded so much tissue, and so many vital organs, that the prognosis is generally poor. Most sufferers are given between a year and 18 months to live. Caught earlier, and treated aggressively with surgery and/or chemotherapy, patients have been known to survive five years or more.

Able has appealed the most recent fine, and has yet to pay the April fine, according to DEQ spokesman Bryan Smith.

Oregon's DEQ, first formed in 1969, reportedly previously fined Able in 2007 for its 2006 work at a West Salem retirement home. At that time, one other contractor and the owner were also fined for improper handling and reporting on asbestos abatement.

Sources: Oregon Dept of Environmental Quality, The Columbian, AGIweb.org

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