Document 5bBVrr44V25DaewZ2mEmp8GdR

PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT DOW-1684 ALLOW SOME ISSUES BY HOWARD FINE- Mention asbestos andbuiklina owners cringe. They have visfcnxs of payingjnSlions'ld remove asbestos from theirbuild ings or muiHmflhnn dbtiarJawsuits from employees fearful of contracting.diseasa from the thin insulation material. But recent devetopuentrmsy.serve to cushion, the Wow for those buiidi^ coM>m or operators grappling with the pcob- This policy has outraged some health and union groups, who see it as a for mula for builders to do nothing about asbestos. "All asbestos is dangerous at all levels,'* says Paul Safdmck, president of the White Lung Association who says be is abo a victim of asbeatoas, a fatal lung disease. "There is no such thing as safe asbestos. It must aQ be removed.4* iSD.fif asbestos. A fcdoaiageoeyjUs The EPA maintains that this policy is come but with revised guidelines that' not a "do-nothing" formula, but rather a downplay thethreat ffbmasbcstos. a way inwhich to mtwimfa* the amount of mow-that has stirred controversy.among, asbestos fibers that ate released into the union and:health groups. And a New air. Moreimpetus forbuilding owners to -York court dedsdb'lasnnemihcmiid leave asbestos undisturbed maycome-- - bring tax relief to building owners injhat from rules currently undergoing final state whose BuiHiogs contain asbestos. review at the Occupational Safety and --.Real estate groups may s6on-pcess.for Health Administration. similarlieatxnem of asbestos-ladaTprbp- The agency is considering tougher air- qty in California, "TlKasbestosfiber borneasbestos fiber exposure limits. mama-that prevailed several yeamao has OSHA'i (986 rules, which lowered the cooled, to be repiaced_by_a more com- acceptable exposure limits from 2.0 asbes -mon-sgtse and cautiourapproachto the ' loog-temrmanagement of asbestos;'* sayr tos fibers per cubic centimeters to 0.2 fibers per cubic centimeter, were immedi- David Kahane, vice president of Forensic atdy challenged in court by the budding Analytical Specialties Inc., aHayward- and construction trades. Since then based asbestos consulting firm. OSHA has granted several exemptions ~_"Yet building owhoacamotcom- and has eased the standard to 1.0 fibers 'pfct^jr ignore asbestos,** Kahane says. per cubic centimeter in other cases. "They will have to accept die fact that Now-OSHA is considering rules that asbera wiU have to be deah with eventu would lowm the overall exposure (unit to ally. And it may be just as expensive over 0.1 fiber* per cubic centimeter. Those the long run to manage~tsbestos on site.** rules, which gre expected to be released in As if to underscore this poinl.some early 1992, would also mandate auto regulators may be tightcating their regula matic inspections and asbestos enclosure tions. "It is quite likely that therejwiU be policies for anybuilding demolition or mandatory inspections in buddings renovation. known to contain asbestos,** says Greg - OSHA health scientist Carol Jones says Huriey, an attorney with thelrvinecon- ~ that the tougher standards for ambient strucooQ and enviroonbrnOllaw. fmn of airJexposure should not impact buildings Ernest Brown-* Go^Thttbyhsctf-coUld---^^hcr^asbcstiu is lcft-untiaturbcd,ualcss prove very expensive.4* . ..TbeEPA is under cquit-ordcrjp deride 'whether to revise asbestos-regulations by July 1. Currently the EPA is underfoot. _a.significant policy shift. Whtte-they have -mandated the removaLofaibestos a schools, the agency'sJjdy 1990 publica tion entitled4'Managing Asbestosin . Place" downplayed the need totemove asbestos, focunogiastead on tow io'ticgp -the asbestos fibers from air- "Based upon,available data, the aver age airborne asbestos Icvds in bufldingi -seem to be very low,*' die kfrikey states. "Accordingly, the health risk to most building occupants also appears very.low. Removal is often not a building owner's best course of action to reduceasbestos exposure. In fact, an improper removal can create a dangerous situation " none previously existed^* ___ there is an asbestos fiber leak. While the federal government remains _tied up in revising asbestos regulations, (he most significant state legislation in j asbestos management has been on the books for two years. AB 3713 was passed at the end of the 1988 legislative session and requires any owner of a budding completed before 1979 who knows the building contains asbestos to notify the tenants or employees. The law was amended early last year to include provi sions for the drawing up of asbestos management plans. Even though both the state and federal regulations stress in-place asbestos man agement, building owner* still face the prospect of years ofasbestots-rdated problems and difficulties in selling asbes tos-contaminated property. -- A sign of relief may have arrived in the form of a court-mandated tax rebate for owners of biddings with asbestos. The Maidicouit derision in the case of Bass y. New York State Tax Commission could mean-thousands of dotiars in savings in property taxes on buildings with asbestos. liie case itself involved the 50-story, 24 miHioMquare-foot One New York Plaza building. The building owner* sought property tax refief on the basis that the presence of asbestos lowered the market value of the building by adding costs of up to S30 per square foot for asbestos removal. The New Ybrk state Supreme Court sided with the plaintiffs and ordered the New York State Tkx Camnusrion to refund the bmkfiag owner* $24 million in overpayed taxes. Ernest Brown A Co.'s Hurley says that building owners in Cali fornia were Ufcdy to push for similar tax rvbaia, (#ing ptoces like the mid-Wfi_shirr district, which has many buddings containing asbestos find are smto in size to the One New \brk Baza building. Asbestos Lowers the Tax Toll i A New York State Supreme Court judge recently reduced the tax assessment of a Man hattan office building. In part, it was because of the presence H UJ of asbestos in the structure. judge Stanley Parneas cut the assessment for One New 2^3 York Plaza for six taxyears by a total of $360 million. "The property has significant physi cal andfunctional impairment, whichimpacts upon its market </l value. The problem of first magnitude is the existence of asbestos throughout the build ing, "said Parness. The tax assessment reduc tion case was the first to go on O at trial in the state in 10 yean,_______ _______ according to Toel R. Marcus. 5? Marcus was the attorney who CD argued the case while he was with the law firm of Shea &. Could. According to the Wall Street journal, Marcus said that the decision will almost certainly inspire owner* around the country to trythe same routein *=* an effort to lower assessments. He noted, however, that low- S: ering a building's assessment for tax purposes doesn't ordi- t narily reduce the property's ^ resale value since lower taxes can make a property more at- w tractive than itotherwisewould pc be. ^ An attorney for the city said that afterrcviewingthedecision the citywould,probably appeal. M cl ' 55 ^ ' gj; S S=*' ^ ST010&'8^ mtm -'' Soviets join Canadian asbestos program ' Offers safety advice and training to Third World customers 1AM AUSTIN the former East Bloc. r<atton said. SOUIIUMtCWS But he expects the need for hard currency and the loss of captive eastern European markets will prompt - OTTAWA -- In so ippimuM lo protect growing export market! in ihc developing world, the Canadian A^dloi Institute hatconvinctd ils Soviet counterpart lojoin a iolcfoaiiooalurciy group. Announced yesterday, the deal between the Atfaeaoa Inuinae and Vaiipcoeassbcsf esieanally expands a program nut by Ihc Canadian atom for many yearn Iiatteaspts to boon asbcstossakvhypfleriag safely advice aadlminiac to customers, particularly in the "Ifthere it no safely. there it no future foe the asbes- loa industry," iauilulc pfeaidcat Muhcl Giauon said. --Jr But the new venture and Canada'! effort to expand aka lo developing nalioeuwerc botbcoodcraned by Lyle Kristiansen. the NDP's occupational health and aalcty critic. - ___ "TScie atccaewgh problems in developingcmuurica without u< attemptiaglo assuage lean to increase u- besint exports to them," Ihe Ml* said in an interview. - the Soviets to look for new markets While that will bring Ihc Soviets into direct competi tion with Canada -- the current capon leader--Gralloo said it's m this country's interest lo help improve their standards. Otherwise, he argued, Ihc Soviets may extend their unsafe ptactiecs to other countries and extend the backlash agninst the cancer-causing fibre. Oration aihtiitied that the in railed International Fibre Safely Group will have ao power to cafotoe us (CCOMMMallMMli As wdl, he acknnwltirtpid that the iartilutc'i gust efforts at improvement have often fahen on dadeats. "Where the politicd will u> protect workersdoes Dot eaH. our aetiooscaaoolhevemuchhBpict:'' Despite that, be said.'it would be foolish for Chaada in unilaterally cad expont an onuauica that ignore safely measures. He did suggest that Ihc new iasliluU might organise international boycotts of unsafe users. "ll-a wildly irresponsible'' The institute u funded by the federal government, the province of Quebec and the asbestos industry. After announcing the deal. Oration sekaowtedged The rsnariian srtirwns inihutiy his lainnnetniintuM on Thud Wodd markon as aomof saks io the United . States have plienmeted to kSlhaaTO.t>O0 toaaa from Tmimnuuiwu k Su^arsuAs that the new group's fir task will .beiririntroduce cr. taking 44 percent of its tsbeflotexports. safety standards itrtheSovietUnion itself. "Even in the Soviet Union Ihey rcalirc iflhey don't dean up tbeir act. they won't have an SCI for very ' l" G.nration said' at--a news conference. While the Soviet Union hat long been the wood s largest asbestos producer it has rarely capooed beyond The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will baa all asbestos use by 1946--a move thc Asbcstos Iflstilutc, Ihc federal govemmeat andothersarcchallenging in court. Asbestos use is abdfallu* in Western Europe with Germany, Denmark and Sweden alt considering asbestos bans. Judge alters way of paying asbestos victims NEW YORK (AP)--A federal tos problem is needed if we are Asbestos is an insulation-mate company and ordered tens of - judge Thursday approved the to adequately compensate the rial used widely from the late thousands of pending cases oveihaul of the fiufing MapyiBe ,, iniuredjwithout destroying the 1800s until theJ9I0S. against- the trust dismissed. That - mat fond to speed ccvnpenss--egscrivenem-of-reueh of-ourm--- --Weautem's^uling-esridilisherr wa'uitended to reduce legal ex ,j _ lion to teat of thousands of as- dusby and some of our courts," new method of paying workers penses, which totaled $50 mil --- bestos^hsease clximantr trapped Weinstein wrote. or their families tor aitmanu lion last year. The move was in^the natron's biggest worker- . The class-action settlement such as hint cancer cauigUtt. achieved by combining all health crisit. was prpposed_last-November inhaluut aSbestos. lawsuits against the trust into a -- In a 505-page opinion, U.S. after the=Manvilk trust, the na- It will pay deserving daimants single class District Judge Jack B. Wanstein tkm'l main mechanism forcom- according to the eeventy of their Legal appeals are expected, .reheiKd-calu-for congressional--pensaling asbestos victims, de- illnesses, abandoning-K-first- however, as. the plan raises intervention to help eoa thcdcc- pleted its caxh_after' making come, first-served scnrtmr that auesrions about Weinstein's au =-- adcs-old legal bottle, which he inaccurate estimates of claims drained much of the trust's as thorityto modify pending Brian- -- said could oost up to $51 billion and payments. sets. Defendants* awj pUintira* to resolve. ` Tbejnntwni created in 1988 Under the restructuring. Man- towyen alike opposed aspects of ~-- The judge also predkted-that as part of^Minyille Corp.'s ville will contritmte an additioaal the plan. -i --: more companies beyond-the bankiuptcycouri rcorganccaoon. $520 million to the trust over Also, appeals cotuts in seven! "T * dozenthnt_nlready have sought- Mtnvlllc, once the nation'r latg- the next seven yesm and the jurisdictions have struck down _ bankruptcy^protection would esr producer and supplier of.is- trust wiB be free to sell a $1.8 led class actions on -----tun out of money to meet isbea- bestos andMbestoa-contrumng -- tos babdities. product., sought bankruptcy "A national eonsolidatioa and -protection in 1982 after being billion Msaville bond to raise more cash. Weinstein bitted future S that legal and factual mi among victims and their diseases make a single mtqpated solution to the asbes- mnndatnd by asbestos claims. lawsuits against the trust or the wwjraniwi unfair / IL-D23C JIMME MAY 17, \m