Register Investigation: Iowa's asbestos inspectors overloaded

A contractor's complaint has prompted closer scrutiny of possible asbestos exposure involving workers at a downtown Des Moines renovation project, but an inspector doesn't even visit hundreds of sites across Iowa each year where workers could face risks from the cancer-causing material.

The routine lack of asbestos-handling inspections at construction sites in Iowa and across the nation represents a widespread failure to protect the public, environmental safety advocates say.

In Iowa, one inspector enforces U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asbestos removal regulations and oversees as many as 4,500 asbestos removal projects each year. Another inspector must try to enforce federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration asbestos regulations.

"It's safe to say that enforcement of asbestos regulations nationwide is abysmal," said Brent Kynoch of the Environmental Information Association, a group based in Maryland focused on health hazards in buildings, specifically asbestos.

"There are no budgets with either the state or federal governments to put the kind of inspection staff out there that we really would require to enforce the regulations," Kynoch said.

The two Iowa inspectors work for separate agencies, the Department of Natural Resources and the Division of Labor. They sometimes share general information but are responsible for enforcing different laws and typically conduct their own work.

The state isn't required to inspect each site, but the number of asbestos projects means that even random spot checks are unlikely at most project sites.

Iowa's EPA asbestos inspector, Tom Wuehr, said his time is spent focused on complaints, some of which he can't physically address in a timely manner because they might fall on opposites sides of the state.

The complaints are important.

Last week, a complaint about the handling of asbestos at the former Younkers department store building renovation project in downtown Des Moines was made public. That case focused attention on both the developers who are supposed to follow federal guidelines in handling asbestos and the inspectors who are charged with ensuring compliance with those laws.

An anonymous complaint made a few years ago led to Bob Knapp, a prominent Iowa developer, being sentenced to 41 months in prison in 2011 for his role at the head of a conspiracy to ignore federal asbestos regulations during a renovation of Des Moines' historic Equitable Building.

"I suspect that we respond to most complaints," said Wuehr, the inspector who works in the state's natural resources department and was part of the investigation at the 19-story, 90-year-old Equitable Building. "And you have to also qualify the complaints just a little bit to see if they're credible."

The Equitable Building problems were not Knapp's first run-in with state environmental inspectors during a development project. In 2011, Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Scorpiniti called Knapp "an incorrigible defendant" who had been warned before about violating asbestos regulations during a renovation project at the Suites of 800 Locust.

The fact that Iowa's inspectors are overworked means owners of unscrupulous companies know they can work in Iowa and probably won't encounter oversight, said Lynn Pickard, statewide director of training of the Iowa Laborers Education and Training Fund. He emphasized concerns about projects where he believes some companies partake in "rip and skip at night when nobody is around" and incorrectly conduct air monitoring tests.

Indeed, in the Equitable Building case, a longtime building engineer testified that Knapp paid him to work 10-hour shifts on the weekends to remove pipe coverings and hide them in a trash bin.

Pickard, who teaches union members how to properly remove hazardous materials, said he would like to see the number of OSHA asbestos inspectors in Iowa increase to five or 10. Minnesota's OSHA agency, for example, has 15 inspectors who are trained to sample and assist with asbestos investigations.

Increasing Iowa's inspectors could make unannounced visits to project sites possible, Pickard said.

"OSHA is doing the best they can with what they've got, but if you get 10 complaints in a day, which one do you go to?" Pickard asked. "This hurts the industry and the end result is that people are getting exposed."

Inadequate review of D.M. complaint?

Renovation at the iconic Younkers department store building in downtown Des Moines prompted accusations of improper asbestos removal that came to light last week.

The complaint, filed Jan. 29 by a former contractor associated with renovation at the building, was initially deemed unfounded by Wuehr, the state inspector. He told the Register on Feb. 17 that he "found absolutely nothing" when he inspected the building following his initial inspection.

Wuehr's initial report was used by the city of Des Moines as a basis to, on Feb. 13, dismiss the complaint filed by owners of RedNet Environmental Services of West Des Moines. And the Iowa Department of Economic Development Authority used the city's findings without any review of its own to also conclude that the allegations were unfounded.

A fourth review — conducted by the Iowa Division of Labor — additionally determined the complaint to be unfounded. Labor officials provided the Register with documents showing what appeared to be an extensive review of documents such as air quality records, which include tests for airborne asbestos.

But public records and interviews show none of the departments that dismissed the claims had taken the step the complainant suggested — reviewing the differences in environmental reports to see if there was evidence that hazardous materials were being improperly handled.

Wuehr last week revisited the site — now known as the Flagship Building — after The Des Moines Register published a front-page article highlighting the differences in the two reports.

On his second visit to the site, Wuehr discovered what he described as a small area where asbestos had been improperly removed. Soon after word of his finding, contractors at the site revised their answers to Wuehr's questions and insisted the area was properly abated — which Wuehr said will result in him doing additional investigation.

Wuehr told the Register that he has now requested copies of both asbestos surveys from the owners and contractors of the Flagship Building and will compare them as part of his further review.

"They're going to get more scrutiny now, obviously," Wuehr said last week of the work at the Flagship Building.

"This is unlike some projects that have happened throughout the state where people knock a two-story building down (that potentially contain asbestos) and nobody ever knows anything."

Cursory review a common problem

Kynoch, the managing director of the the Environmental Information Association and a national advocate of proper asbestos removal, initially reviewed both of the ex-Younkers building reports at the request of the Register and concluded that he could see nothing improper with the report being used by Hansen Construction, the company overseeing the project.

But Kynoch additionally said that the cursory review from Iowa officials exemplifies a practice common across the United States where complaints aren't properly vetted or contractors are often taken at their word that hazardous materials are being removed properly.

He believes it's a problem caused largely by the overwhelming disparities between projects — asbestos was widely used in construction from the late 1800s into the 1970s — and the number of asbestos regulators.

The Register made multiple attempts to speak with federal EPA officials about asbestos oversight issues last week. David Bryan, an EPA press officer based in Kansas, responded to questions submitted by the Register with a three-sentence email that said the agency is aware of the issue in Des Moines but that it would be inappropriate to comment.

Linda Reinstein, the president of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, which bills itself as the largest independent asbestos victims' organization in the United States, quoted statistics showing that 30 Americans die every day from preventable asbestos-caused diseases.

"I have concern about regulatory violations throughout the United States," Reinstein said. "I am routinely called by residents and workers with possible structural asbestos abatement issues."

Bill Gerhard, president of the Iowa State Building & Construction Trades Council, a group that encompasses workers of all trades who are engaged in the construction industry, said he shares Reinstein's concern but on a local level.

"There are a lot of contractors who are fly-by-night and they are the ones that do the terrible job of asbestos removal and don't abide by the regulations," Gerhard said.

"We do believe that more inspectors would help," Gerhard said.

Iowan with lung disease: The time to speak up is now

Des Moines resident Robert Jeffries has a lung disease that he's pretty certain was caused by asbestos.

Jeffries, 77, spent roughly 45 years working construction in the Des Moines area.

People weren't aware of the dangers of asbestos decades ago, and he remembers working with materials without breathing apparatuses — something that he said would today be considered a violation of federal regulations.

Jeffries also remembers running into a former co-worker around the time he retired 14 years ago and seeing the man hooked up to oxygen. When he asked what had happened, his co-worker told him that "the asbestos got me."

His former co-worker died shortly after the encounter.

Jeffries said he was moved to speak about his experience following the news articles about asbestos published last week in The Des Moines Register. He contends that some people— mostly construction co-workers —look the other way regarding possible asbestos violations, perhaps not comprehending the long-term ramifications of their inaction.

"I don't understand why people don't say something when they've got brothers, sisters, moms and dads out there," Jeffries said.

About Iowa's two asbestos inspectors

In Iowa, one inspector enforces U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asbestos removal regulations and oversees as many as 4,500 asbestos removal projects each year. His job with the state's natural resources department is primarily centered on protecting public health under the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, also known as NESHAP.

Another asbestos inspector is part of the Iowa Division of Labor. That inspector focuses on worker protections under federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations.

While the agencies frequently communicate and sometimes share information, the regulations they enforce are separate and often require separate reviews, officials from both agencies said.

City and county government officials are also responsible for assisting in asbestos oversight. State and federal regulations, for example, sometimes require an asbestos survey to be completed and those regulations may require removal of material that can become airborne prior to the issuance of a demolition permit.

War of the contractors

Behind the complaint alleging that there was improper asbestos and lead abatement at the former Younkers building is a soured relationship between two Des Moines-area contractors.

A letter of complaint about work at the site was sent to 11 state or federal regulatory officials by owners of RedNet Environmental Services, a West Des Moines company, on Jan. 29.

Officials from Hansen Construction, a Johnston company overseeing the reconstruction project, contend that the allegations are bogus.

Craig Hansen, an owner of the company, told The Des Moines Register last week that his company began receiving threats from RedNet owners Rob and Lynn Knudsen shortly after a work agreement on the project fell through.

Hansen Construction has now filed a libel lawsuit against RedNet.

Rob Knudsen contends his company had an obligation to send the letter because RedNet executives could have faced criminal charges if it was later revealed that they didn't report what they believed was inappropriate disposal of hazardous materials.

About the Flagship Building project

The former Younkers department store building, now called the Flagship Building, is a 244,800-square-foot structure with six full floors and a partial seventh floor built in 1908 and 1924 in downtown Des Moines.

The building was the department store's home until 2005. It has been vacant since then.

The building's new owners, the Alexander Co. of Madison, Wis., kicked off a $37 million redevelopment of the site in September. When renovations are completed, the building will feature 28 one-bedroom apartments and 92 two-bedroom apartments.

The company is receiving about $15 million in state and federal historic tax credits for the project.

About asbestos

Asbestos refers to a set of six naturally occurring fibrous minerals that were largely discontinued in manufacturing in the U.S. in the late 1970s after scientific studies found the material to be a known carcinogen and a hazard to human health.

Fibers of the material are microscopic. Once inhaled, they cling to the respiratory system.

Once disturbed, asbestos can remain airborne for days. How far the material may spread is dependent upon multiple factors, including air gusts.

Asbestos accounts for 54 percent of all occupational cancers, according to the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization.

No amount of asbestos exposure is safe; however, the longer and more intense the exposure, the more likely an individual is to develop mesothelioma cancer or another asbestos-related disease.

About 10,000 Americans will die this year of asbestos-related diseases and 200,000 are currently living with asbestosis.

Sources: Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization and Mesothelioma.com