Yakima’s Tourist Motel Contaminated with Asbestos

    Yakima’s Tourist Motel Contaminated with Asbestos

    By Janice Pennington on December 30, 2009

    The Tourist Motel in Yakima, Washington has been partially closed after one of the facility’s three buildings was found to be contaminated with asbestos. Asbestos is a known carcinogen, which can cause mesothelioma, lung cancer or asbestosis when inhaled and lodged in the lungs.

    On December 14, 2009, the motel was raided by Yakima city officials along with agents from the Regional Clean Air Agency and the Yakima Health District. Asbestos was found in a 30-unit, two-story structure of the motel, which was then shuttered and closed, pending extensive renovation to remove the asbestos. The danger posed by asbestos during renovations is a serious one. When old asbestos fibers are dislodged or disturbed, they are released into the air, where they can be breathed in by workers or those living nearby. The City cannot force the motel owner to remodel the motel. But if the contaminated structure sits vacant for an extended period, Yakima officials can enforce city nuisance ordinances governing abandoned structures.

    For more information, go to http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2009/12/29/city-not-likely-to-close-tourist-motel.

    Two Thousand Tons of Asbestos Removed from Sweet Home, Oregon Site

    By Janice Pennington on December 14, 2009

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was recently forced to step in and clean up two thousand tons of asbestos waste from an old mill site in Sweet Home, Oregon. The $1.1 million price tag for the clean-up was paid with federal Superfund money, which is generated from taxes imposed on the chemical industry. At the center of the environmental disaster is Eugene businessman Dan Desler, who owns the contaminated mill site along with two other huge illegal industrial garbage dumps in and around Sweet Home. The EPA is hoping that Desler will eventually be required to reimburse the agency for the $1.1 million expenditure. (more…)

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