(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
This story was originally published by Iowa Capital Dispatch and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
DNR: Eastern Iowa man demolished, burned building with asbestos [1]
['Jared Strong', 'More From Author', '- February']
Date: 2023-02-02
An eastern Iowa man was recently fined $10,000 by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for demolishing and burning an asbestos-containing building last year in West Chester despite being warned against it.
The DNR received a report in February 2022 that a former lumberyard in that town was in the process of being torn down and the debris burned, according to a recent DNR administrative order.
The DNR told the property owner, Kevin Flynn, of nearby Wellman, to cease demolition and extinguish the fire. The department issued a notice of violation the next day for improper waste disposal, open burning, failure to inspect the building and failure to submit a demolition notification.
The order did not specify the size of the building, but county records show it might have exceeded 11,000 square feet. Flynn bought the property in 2018 for $5,000.
Debris from demolished buildings must generally be taken to a landfill under state law. If the structures contain asbestos, the material must be removed prior to demolition because it has the potential to be dispersed into the air.
Asbestos is a fibrous material that, when inhaled by people, is difficult to expel and can damage lungs. Typical fires do not melt it, said Levi Fisher, who specializes in asbestos compliance and abatement for the DNR. Materials that contain asbestos are generally kept wet until they can be buried.
DNR officers returned to the West Chester site about a week after the initial report and noted that much of the rest of the building had been demolished and debris was on fire, the administrative order said. One of the officers sampled the debris and found that it contained asbestos.
Flynn later admitted to the DNR that the site had not been inspected for asbestos before the demolition, the order said. He was issued another notice that documented five violations related to the improper handling of asbestos-containing debris.
Flynn did not respond to a request to comment for this article.
“Asbestos is known to cause cancer and is a hazardous air pollutant,” the order said. “The demolition activity would have released asbestos fibers into the air. In addition, Mr. Flynn open burned the demolition material, and burning asbestos-containing material would have caused significant asbestos release to those exposed to the smoke.”
The DNR noted it would have cost Flynn several thousand dollars to dispose of the asbestos-containing material before demolition. The department ordered him to hire a company to properly dispose of the remaining debris.
West Chester is a town of about 150 people located southwest of Iowa City.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/02/02/dnr-eastern-iowa-man-demolished-burned-building-with-asbestos/
Published and (C) by Iowa Capital Dispatch
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND-NC 4.0.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/iowacapitaldispatch/
