<p>The owner and manager of a California condominium complex were sentenced for conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act’s asbestos work practice standards during the renovation of a 204-unit apartment building in Winnetka, Calif., in 2006 – work that caused asbestos to be released into the complex and the surrounding community. </p><p>
Charles Yi, of Santa Clarita, Calif., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson to four years in prison. John Bostick, also of Santa Clarita, was sentenced to six months home confinement, 150 hours of community service, and three years probation. Yi was convicted after a two-week trial in March 2011 when a jury found him guilty of five felony offenses, including conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act. Bostick pleaded guilty in February 2011 to conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act. </p><p>
The jury also convicted Yi of failing to notify the Environmental Protection Agency and the South Coast Air Quality Management District about a renovation containing asbestos, failing to provide a properly trained person during a renovation containing asbestos, failing to properly remove asbestos and failing to properly dispose of asbestos wastes.
</p><p>
Yi was the owner of the now-defunct Millennium-Pacific Icon Group and Bostick was its vice-president. Millennium-Pacific owned the Forest Glen apartment complex in Winnetka that was being converted into condominiums in 2006. Knowing that asbestos was present in the ceilings of apartments in the Forest Glen complex, Yi, Bostick, and the project manager, Joseph Yoon, hired workers who were not trained or certified to conduct asbestos abatements. The workers scraped the ceilings of the apartments without knowing about the asbestos and without wearing any protective gear. The illegal scraping resulted in the repeated release of asbestos-containing material throughout the apartment complex and the surrounding area because Santa Ana winds were blowing during the time of the illegal work. After the illegal asbestos abatement was shut down by an inspector from the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the asbestos was cleaned up at a cost of approximately $1.2 million. Yoon pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in June 2010 and is scheduled to be sentenced in July. </p><p>
The federal Clean Air Act requires those who own or supervise the renovation of buildings that contain asbestos to adhere to certain established work practice standards. These standards were created to ensure the safe removal and disposal of the asbestos and the protection of workers.
</p><p>
A University of Sheffield professor has found a way of locking up iodine radioisotopes in a durable, solid material suitable for ultimate disposal, such as lead iodovanadinite(Pb5(VO4)3I).
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin signed into law a bill that requires manufacturers of mercury-containing lamps to establish and finance a recycling program for spent bulbs from residents and small businesses.
Chesapeake Energy agreed to pay the penalty for using faulty well casings that allowed natural gas to seep into the water supply and for improper handling of a wet gas that resulted in a fire.
The agreement resolves the company’s National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit violations and unpermitted discharges at the mines and mills that occurred from 2008 to 2010.
Ignoring EPA regulations can be costly -- and not just in terms of fines.
- By Glen Carter
- May 16, 2011
Central Valley Grocery gas station in Poulsbo, Wash., has agreed to pay $11,356 for failing to properly monitor three underground storage tanks (USTs) for leaks for more than a year.
Oregon Freeze Dry Inc. will pay the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency $3,323 for its failure to report an estimated 422 pounds of anhydrous ammonia released at its food freeze dryer facility in Albany, Ore.
The company failed to notify owners and occupants of at least eight Omaha residential properties built before 1978 of lead-based paint risks before performing renovation work at those locations.
Do-it-yourselfers may be exposed to methylene diphenyl diisocyanate and toluene diisocyanate from spray foam insulation or sealing concrete applications.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has placed penalties on Cascade Paving and Oregon Employees Federal Credit Union for improper removal of asbestos from the demolition of a 90-year-old house in Salem.
Those who violate the ban can face stiff penalties, including fines up to $1,000 per violation and an additional $1,000 per day the violation occurs.
Richard Brodsky with Demos, a national policy center, and three other groups have filed Freedom of Information Act requests prompted by the nuclear disaster in Sendai, Japan.
EPA said Permanent Siding and Windows, a contractor specializing in spray-on vinyl siding and replacing windows and doors, failed to provide the lead hazard information pamphlet to at least 17 owners or occupants before the company began renovation activities.
A national radiation lab is analyzing a sampling filter containing minuscule levels of an isotope from Hawaii consistent with the Japanese nuclear incident but still below levels of concern, EPA said.
The assessment shows that between 1990 and 2005, air toxic emissions were reduced by about 42 percent from industrial and mobile sources.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs are seeking cleanup of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes on property that formerly provided petroleum storage in above-ground tanks, most recently by Kinder Morgan.
The research centers will explore the health impacts on children and older citizens to determine which health effects occur at different life stages.
March 31 is the deadline for 10-K financial filings, which this year should include climate-related disclosures, based on the Securities and Exchange Commissions' guidance.
In collaboration with the United Kingdom, the agency and the Consumer Product Safety Commission are pooling funds to determine whether health risks exist in products using nanotechnology.