Contractors Charged with Asbestos Violations at SUNY New Platz
Monday, September 21st, 2009New York contractors have been charged with illegal removal and disposal of asbestos stripped from dormitories at the State University of New York at New Paltz.
According to the Poughkeepsie Journal, Salvatore R. DePaola, 55, and Steevens Espitia Oliverso, 211 illegally removed and disposed of asbestos from Bouton, College and Shango halls in SUNY New Paltz without following proper disposal regulations.
Oliveros was an asbestos project supervisor for Milestone Environmental Corp. in Morganville, New Jersey, and DePaola was a senior asbestos supervisor for Milestone.
The $179,000 asbestos removal project was part of a routine dormitory remodeling on the campus. The work began after classes ended in the spring of 2009 and ended in May.
Court papers filed by an Environmental Protection Agency investigator said Jason Pensabene, a senior industrial hygienist with the New York Department of Labor, during site inspections in June observed numerous violations of the Clean Air Act including the failure to put stripped asbestos in leak-proof, labled containers and failure to properly dampen asbestos until it could be contained. He observed dry, friable asbestos all over the floor.
Another company eventually completed the project after work was halted.
