September 19th, 2005

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has reported that the city of Grants Pass may have violated asbestos regulations and laws by allowing asbestos rubble into its garbage transfer station. The asbestos rubble comes from demolished buildings. Recent samples of rubble taken by the department from the station are to be tested to see whether there is a risk to the public and therefore whether there has been a violation.

John Becker, air quality manager in the DEQ Medford office, stated: "If it appears the transfer station accepted a quantity that is a risk to the public, our enforcement actions will be two-fold. We will ask them to correct the violation by abating the asbestos, which they may already be doing, and there will be a penalty."

The transfer station is operated by Grants Pass Sanitation. An environmental company was hired to test 20 pieces of building material, and according to reports only 2 of the 20 tested positive for asbestos. However, the results of the DEQ testing are expected to be available from next week.

The transfer station being investigated is not supposed to accept any debris or material that could release asbestos material into the air. The station distributes garbage to landfills.