Document 935mYgxkqpZN5RRN6yNreVjj3

MZMORA r! /i ~-ra WRG 000472 1 PLAINTIFF'S (J EXHIBIT | WRC3h778 CZ: ,ue:s *``5 sh Vou asked for our views or. the article in the June 21 issue of Chemical *ee.< or. the technique being used by several companies ir. supplying coatir.g products to contain asbestos fireproofing materials in public buildings. This approach has been discussed within C?D and will continue to be viewed as an alternative to the removal of asbestos. Most likely, the only place where we would consider such an application would be where we have a clear liability to solve the asbestos problem. It is clear from the article, and it confirms our own view, that these containment approaches have some significant snortcomings and the companies applying the coating materials have their own potential liability. Therefore, the utilization of the coating technique could compound both the liability issue and the problems associated with removing not only the asbestos but also the containment coatings at some point ir. time. CVTL: ph C. Vi. Lorentzen r*fc T " V" t i_ *- - n t w^ ` ,, >-c 7 <n 3^ Asbestos containment: A controversial alternative Ir. the eyes of Ecnur.c A Drazga. as bestos .4>year reier. as a prevalent building material was nothing .ess wan "tr.e worst inaustr.a: accident since tr.e ir.dustr.ai revolution That may oe so. out Drazga. unune victims of asbestos innaiation. certair.lv nasr, t suffered from. it. He's we president of K.RC Researcr. 1 Moorestowr. N J i. one of a number of firms doing a tr.sk ousmess ;r. asbestos containment--a.so caiiea en capsulation--coatings. Their potential market is huge. An estimated Ts billion sq ft of asbestos insulation was installed m. the U 5 be tween 1942 and 19*2 While 90~ of ail buddings put up before 19*4 contain some asoestos :n only 5~ of these buildings nas the asoestos eitner been removed or otnerw-.se rendered narmiess to people. Drazga estimates that the treatment or removal of asbestos from the otner 95~ represents a market in the vicinity of So biiiion. so far, schools have been the biggest customers for encapsulation, and tney account for aDout half the potential market. Drazga believes. The Environ mental Protection Agency iEPai cur rently requires scnooi districts to locate and analyze asoestos in scnooi build ings. to monitor asbestos levels and to notify parents and school employees of exposure. Moreover, tne agency is w-eignmg demands from the Service Employees International Union iSEIU) tnat it require schools to develop active asbestos abatement programs To gath er more information aoout aoatemer.t options for scnoois. EPA is holding hear ings in three cities tms month. But w-mie scnoois have gotten the li on's share of regulators concern, many encapsulation companies say that com mercial buildings may prove to be ar. equally lucrative market. "It s a quiet issue in the private sector nght now.'' Critics of containment say it is a stopgap measure that can pose dangers of its own observes Gerald Bnttendall. executive vice-president of VLS Protective Coat ings iDes Plaines. III.). But. he says. `'You're going to see an explosion." In fact, some companies say that pri vate-sector work has taken off already. Encapsulation is "being used every where." says Eugene J. Secor. product manager for H. B. Fuller s Foster Div., a major supplier of containment coat ings. Secor says that sales in 1983 were double those of 1982 and that schools accounted for only 60% of sales. There are two possible en capsulation routes, ondging and penetration. Bridging employs coatings that are at least 40% solid by weight to form a film on a surface that contains asbestos. Foster, for example, offers a 63^-solid br.og-.r.g e> caosuiar.t formulated around a v-.r.vTdene cnionde monomer PaneafnrrPia.-"t!cs rwest Purr. BeacnT F'.a 1 also :s selling a bridging material. ca..ec Decadex Firecnecx. Penetrating encapsuiants soax mtc the asbestos-contair.m.g maar.a:. lea. ing almost no him. Of thinner consis tency tnan bnogmg coatings tr.e oe ni trating variety is usually .ess mar 2v solids content by weight. Some corr.cames. including Foster ar.q American Coatings iNlies. III.), offer Doth types :: containment coatings. Critics. Both forms of containment re main controversial. They are a tempo rary solution, something to buy time with." declares Dwight E. Brown, the former coordinator of EPA s Region 4 asbestos program, who is now president of his own consulting firm. Asoestos Hazard Program Research iManena. Ga.i. Officials of the SEIU also are pushing for removal rawer than con tainment. and even EPA officials lean toward removal as the method of pref erence. "There is one thing about [re moval].'' says EPA toxics specialist Ed ward Klein. "Once you've got asbestos out of a building, it's gone." Still, encapsulation has a number of practical considerations in its favor Dan Flaherty, a safety official with the Astoetoa containment can oe taster tnan removal, but it can prevent a building from oreatnmg. ana removal is still raouirao before tne buSdmg a demousned 15137567 Los Angeies Unified scnooi District-- Stewart, vice-president of the National wmcn maintains 13.000 buildings at *00 Asbestos Council anc v.ce-presicen: of s)tes_notes that removal has been the McCrone Environmental Services Cm- preferred course for Los Angeies cagoi. a firm that quantifies asoestos schools. "But that's not always possible, content in buddings ana monitors air so we encapsulate a lot." he says You borne asoestos during acatement pro can encapsulate a good-sized area m a grams. savs mat 'mere nave oeer. quite week or so. out removal of tr.at area a few cases [of fioodmg aue to contain would taxe 60 day; " ment procedures: recently Cost ana time comparisons :or tne The dangers trapped moisture do two metnoas vary depending on wno s not er.d w-.tr. structural damage to doing tr.e talking Wiiiiam B amitr.. cuiidir.gs. If mere is water damage to president of Masterciean of North Caro tne asoestos itself, fioers are more uxe- lina iW'mston-Saiemi. a contracting firm ;y to oe released into tr.e air. increasing that specializes in asbestos aDatemeht^ the cr.ance of peopie innaimg mem ar.d says his firm charges rougmy S3 sq ft . suffering .ur.g proDiems. In fact, some for removal, depending oiutAe- uunditlun asoestos experts say it is unwise to use encapsulation in a heavily trafficked While 90% of all pre-1974 buildings contain asbestos, 95% of them are untouched par. of a building, particularly if me asoestos is crum.Diing or deteriorating m any way Consultant Brown recalls seeing a h.gr school near Macon. Ga.. wr.ere official had sprayed a contain <and depth of tne asDestos. comparer ment coating on trusses on the oasket- CO V for ettrarji "iitiorT^ oaii cour. When encapsulation oegan. If "you do it properly. ' ne says, remov he says, tne asDestos was friable--that al does not taxe any longer man con is. crumbly--and now wnen the bas- tainment. VLS's Brttenoall. meanwhile, ketDaii nits it tne stuff jus: explodes, claims that ms firm can treat a square and tney oor.: know- wnere to push me foot QL-aaeesLg3-cbnlainir.g~ substrate oroom " 'for $1.60-2.00 He puts tne cost of re On rwcord. Some of me contraindica moval at S2.20-10.00 sq ft. tions to encapsulation aireacv are a BuT~Wttmateiv. ail asbwuis mCSTbe matter of puDiic record. In I Bat-- removed before a building is demol teiie Coiumbus_Laboratones Began, at ished. And. says an EPA guide to the EPA's request, an ' evaluation ::_asoes- handling of asbestos in buddings, en tos encapsulation products. That study" capsulation can make that removal pro completed in~T5eZ concludes that encap cess more difficult. ' Long-term costs sulation :s not suitaoie when mere "Has [of encapsulating] may be mgner man _been any damage to the substrate, nor removal." EPA warms m cases' where tne asbestos shows From a technical standpoint, removal signs ol disintegrating on its own. and encapsulation eacn nave pros and Despite such caveats, the 'Battelle cons. On the pius side for encapsulation study has tuned out to oe a wonderful is the fact that contained asbestos re promotion tooi for encapsulation prod mains fireproof, while asbestos that is ucts. Manufacturers of containment removed has to be replaced by mineral coatings repor. that as early as 1979-- wool or ceiiuiose for fireproofing. when Batteiie provided EPA with a pre Breathing. But there is a serious liminary list of products it naa deemed physical drawback to encapsulation that usable for containment--budding own can leave building owners with an even ers and contractors wno were anxious worse asbest preWem-thaft^to do sometnmg about the asDestos in the^aerlliey"started with. Many of the their walls, cemr.gs and pipes started ntamment products on the market ef- ^calling with inquiries. - fectiveiy destroy a building s breathabl Such calls are what brought Ameri (jty. When a building "breathesi]d-it''n- can Coatings, for one. into me contain aWes ambient mwsiuie UJ IMSepthrough ment marxet. For years, me firm nas wails and ceilings, and evaporate or dis made fire-retardant coatings for electri perse harmlessly. After encapsulation, cal wiring. After Battelle s preliminary water that is trapped between a roof findings were released, these coatings and a lowered ceding can accumulate suddenly had a new marxet--one that and weaken the building's structure. the company has since wooed with prod Accumulated water also can back up ucts developed especially for encapsula and cause flooding. Any weakening of tion purposes. _ the building s structure can cause a re But not ail firms nave welcomed the lease of airborne asbestos fibers. interest spurred dv the Battede report. It is not a hypothetical danger. Ian U. S. Mineral (Stanhope. N.J.i makes a fireproofing ;eaia.-i mat was among II products rated Sa:.s :actor.' .r. Batte.c; lira: r-t. --. . But l n Mir.era: :oe;r : recorr.r.---: me product far tr.at particular cur- Dose, savs marxetmg manager P.icr.aro L Feupe. In fact re ;a.; tne n~ - aimost disclaiming ' Cafco :;mat --- Apparent.;,' m.ncifui me vast .... urr.e of ;egai c.aims fiieo again;', a.-:--- to; producers re.ioe ;a-.; mat r.:s pan.v is anxiou; to avt-id an1' vac mat e.ncacsu.ation sa.e; T.:g"-: "EPA nas not seer, fit to approve a~ . one of me products an Batten* ; sat isfaciory ust. Felipe notes He ;av; firm migr.t pursue tne encapsuiat:-:- Schoots are half the market but now encapsulators predict a private-sector explosion' market "if the EPA would put some kind of blessing on it." Since EPA. as a matter of policy, does not endorse proc- ucts. it is unlikely that will happen. The question of possible habn::;. weighs heavily on even those comca.-.ies that have chosen to pursue encapsula tion sales. Most don t make manv prom- ises. Foster doesn't tram contractors to use its products, because the company doesn't want to "become liable for their expertise." Secor says. 'There are so many things that [can] go wrong." he adds. "We don t offer guarantees." Guarantee. By contrast. VL5--per haps uniquely--offers a 10-year guaran tee and a 20-year warranty on its Fiber- gel encapsulation process. For one thing, VL5 claims that Fibergel does not compromise a building's breathabidty For another. VL5 only sells its coatings in applied form, giving it a bigger mea sure of control over the process The company either does me encapsulation work itself or authorizes VLS-trair.eo distributors to use Fibergel in their own encapsulation projects. That is an unusual arrangement, however. More typically, potential users can get hold of encapsulation coatings and use them as they wish. Safety offi cial Flaherty notes that maintenance workers in the Los Angeles school sys tem "carry a small bottle of it witn them" and use the coatings when they make other repairs. Even when the powers that be opt for removal, he notes, maintenance workers apply the encapsulants before new ftreproohng is installed, just in case. "We use it lots of ways." he says. And. he predicts. "Were going to use thousands a no thousands of gallons of it." Z M CnarncH n/jin 20 1964 15137568