February 28th, 2008

A county in New York paid what is little more than a slap on the wrist from charges stemming from the illegal removal of asbestos from a county building in 2006. The fine was a fraction of the normal minimum fine for violating the Clean Air Act.

Although the case is not closed against Cayuga County in relation to the violation of the Clean Air Act in 2006, the fine that the county had to pay has been satisfied. The $10,000 fine was just a small fraction of the normal $250,000 fine that is handed down for violating the Act in most cases, but legislators from the county indicated that they did not want the public to pay for the mistake. The case stemmed from the illegal removal of asbestos from a boiler room in the county Building of Elections in 2006.

The violation also led to several class-actions suits from employees of the building that may have been exposed to asbestos when the illegal removal was taking place. When asbestos is improperly removed, the material can break apart into airborne particles. Breathing in asbestos particles has been linked to emphysema and mesothelioma, a type of deadly lung cancer. While few employees of the building have displayed respiratory problems, mesothelioma often takes years to make itself known to the victim.