Ambler, Pennsylvania, has a history riddled with asbestos, as it was once home to Keasbey & Mattison Co., a building products manufacturing company in the early- to mid-1900s that extensively used asbestos. Part of the town is currently designated as a Superfund Site by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other parts used to have that designation but remediation has since been completed.

Tensions are currently high in the area over the creation of a 115-unit apartment complex building on the Bast tract, an area of land that once held Keasbey & Mattison Co.’s manufacturing facilities for the creation of asbestos products. Members of the community are concerned that asbestos fibers would become airborne or be washed into a nearby creek during construction, according to The Ambler Gazette. (more…)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has undoubtedly faced changes since President Donald Trump took office in January. The shakeup includes naming Scott Pruitt as the agency’s administrator and rolling back many regulations put in place during the Obama era.

Although Pruitt is actively reducing regulations aimed at preventing future environmental issues, he has also recently pledged to prioritize cleaning up old contamination sites, directing regional chiefs to increase efforts to remediate Superfund sites, CBS 42 reports. (more…)

The deadline for Libby, Montana, residents to request asbestos cleanup on their properties has come and gone. March 31 was the end of the Environmental Protection Agency’s “last call” for residents in Libby and surrounding Lincoln County to put their properties’ asbestos remediation on the EPA’s tab, according to the Flathead Beacon.

Libby was home to an asbestos-contaminated vermiculite mine from 1963 to 1990, and the EPA has been conducting asbestos cleanup in the surrounding area since it was declared a Superfund site in the early 2000s. The EPA has been wrapping up its final push to get residents to sign access agreements so the agency can investigate and/or remediate remaining properties. (more…)

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) second season of cleanup at the North Ridge Estates Superfund Site in Klamath Falls, Oregon, began Monday. The site is a residential subdivision that contains asbestos as a result of the improper demolition of 82 asbestos-containing military barracks that were once used to treat World War II Marines suffering from tropical diseases. (more…)

In June 2016, President Barack Obama signed the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act into law as an amendment to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the U.S.’s primary chemical management law. It marked the first time American chemical regulatory law had been updated in nearly 40 years.

As part of the first 10 chemicals to be evaluated under the reform act, asbestos, known to cause mesothelioma, a rare, fatal cancer that normally affects the lining of the lungs and abdomen, is set to finally be evaluated by the Environmental Protection Agency  (EPA) to determine its risk to humans and potentially be further regulated or banned. Despite well studied health risks, the use of the carcinogenic group of minerals has continued due to legal red tape, MyMeso previously reported.

While the change of presidential administrations and political parties caused — and perhaps continues to cause — some to question the Act’s future, the EPA seems to be moving forward with its initial plan. Last week the agency held a public meeting on use information for the first 10 chemicals to be evaluated under the Act — a step toward the creation of scoping documents for each of the chemicals. (more…)

An asbestos disposal site for nearly a century, BoRit Asbestos Site in Ambler, Pennsylvania, now has a long-term remediation plan through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The 38-acre BoRit site was included as part of the EPA’s Superfund Program, which provides federal funding for remediation, eight years ago, and last month the agency released its proposed long-term remedy for the site—open to public comment through March 3. (more…)

Autauga County, Ala., officials have confirmed that asbestos floor tiles were found during the renovation of the Autauga County Courthouse.

“We didn’t know the tiles were there,” said Steve Golsan, the county administrator. “Our contractor informed us, and another contractor who is licensed and specializes in asbestos removal was called in to properly remove and dispose of the tiles. All precautions are being taken to contain the asbestos.” (more…)

Town leaders in Plattsmouth, Neb., voted last week to allow the demolition and removal of a building under the watch of the Historic Preservation Board. The century-old Waterman building, which was located in downtown Plattsmouth, was destroyed by fire in January. The structure has been in limbo ever since, as the Preservation Board tried to decide if it could be saved and restored. (more…)

A team of geologists from the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) are examining an area in Southern Nevada where naturally occurring asbestos fibers have been discovered in rocks and dust. The area under investigation stretches from Boulder City to the southeastern edge of the Las Vegas Valley, which encompasses about 1,200 square miles. (more…)

It is estimated that more than 200 people were exposed to asbestos at Calvin Coolidge Elementary School in Binghamton, N.Y., this summer. Students and administrators were in the building regularly for summer school programs until the presence of asbestos was confirmed Aug. 7. Tests revealed unsafe levels of asbestos in the air. (more…)