Regulations On Asbestos Spark Debate Scapca Votes To Ax Program, Then Backtracks

A divided air quality board voted Thursday to ax Spokane’s asbestos-removal permit program - and then reconsidered after angry contractors complained.

The contractors said the dangerous substance is underregulated in Spokane.

They said Spokane regulators are only pushing paper when they collect a minimal permit fee to remove asbestos from old buildings - and then don’t go back to see if the work has been done correctly.

The Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority wound up delaying its decision, calling for a public hearing on the issue instead.

If SCAPCA had dropped the permit program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would have run it.

“The EPA considers the asbestos program important to protect public health,” said Armina Nolan, an EPA official from Seattle. She urged SCAPCA to beef up its current program.

The cancer-causing substance no longer is being used in new building materials, but the public still can be exposed to asbestos during remodeling and demolition of old buildings, Nolan said.

Dropping the program could mean losing $100,000 in federal money Spokane gets each year to regulate air toxins under the Clean Air Act.

But the board voted 3-2 to drop the asbestos program anyway during a meeting that became a testy debate on government regulation.

SCAPCA board chairman and lame-duck county Commissioner Steve Hasson, Councilman Kevin Ottosen of Fairfield and Spokane city Councilman Mike Brewer voted to dump the program, saying it’s unnecessary.

County Commissioner John Roskelley and Jan Monaco, executive director of the Spokane County Medical Society, protested but were outvoted.

“Do you realize you just put all our (air toxics) funding in jeopardy? I’m very concerned what happened here is not right,” Monaco said.

Hasson, in a lengthy diatribe against government regulations, said the program is too burdensome to businesses.

Under the current program, people planning to demolish or remodel buildings pay a permit fee - up to $150 for large demolition projects.

That’s bad, Hasson said.

“All the polls show people don’t trust government,” he said.

“This fear of government - it’s a myth,” retorted Roskelley.

Several asbestos-removal and abatement contractors and a South Hill home remodeler pushed for a strong program.

They said SCAPCA should make a far more aggressive effort to protect the public and weed out fly-by-night contractors who evade the law while underbidding them.

“I’m appalled at what happened here today,” said Bill Neves of IRS Environmental, Spokane’s largest asbestos-removal company.

Contractors don’t want EPA to run the program and prefer working with a local agency, Neves said.

If SCAPCA pulls out, there’ll be even less compliance than there is now, said Mike Noder, a Spokane demolition contractor.

SCAPCA could make the program pay for itself by doubling or tripling asbestos-removal permit fees and tying them to the building permit process, said Karl Hauseur of MCS Environmental, a local engineering firm.

While SCAPCA charges up to $150 for an asbestos-removal permit with no follow-up inspections, air-quality officials in the Puget Sound region charge as much as $10,000 for a similar permit.

They use the money to inspect sites closely to ensure the work is done properly, Hauseur said.

“A $150 permit fee for a major demolition project is way too low. You could spend that in one night at Clinkerdagger’s (restaurant),” he said.

Homeowners also need asbestos advice and would prefer to get it from a local agency rather than from a remote EPA official, a South Hill handyman said.

SCAPCA helped him when he wanted to remove asbestos from his 1928 home, said Gary Burgess.

“They saved me money. I trust the people I elect until they prove they don’t deserve it. Then I vote them out. … That’s why some of you are leaving office,” Burgess pointedly told Hasson.

The SCAPCA board agreed to hold a hearing in December or January to hear from more people about the asbestos program.

Asbestos exposure has decreased dramatically during the last decade, but the EPA still considers occupational and public exposure a major health risk.

Meanwhile, thousands of asbestos cases still are wending their way through U.S. District Court in Spokane. They’ve been filed by people who developed asbestosis, an incurable disease, or lung cancer after being exposed to asbestos fibers. Both diseases develop some 20 to 30 years after exposure.

, DataTimes