Word: epa
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Private contracting firms have stored tons of asbestos in their warehouses over the last six months since New England dumps began refusing to accept asbestos waste, a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said yesterday...
...contractors can only wait until a site opens up," Paul Hefernon, regional asbestos coordinator for the EPA, said...
Hefernon said airbound asbestos causes two deadly lung diseases, asbestosis and lung cancer. He added that EPA regulations require "an acceptable disposal site," such as a landfill area in a municipal dump...
This political arm-twisting has turned the EPA's regulatory efforts into, as one congressman put it, "a complete joke." Top agency officials have exempted from regulation more than half of all hazardous wastes--some tens of thousands of substances known to cause birth defects, mutations, radiation poisoning and infectious diseases. Branch chief Sanjour observes, "Whereas previously these wastes may have been disposed of inadequately and secretly, they can soon (thanks to a clean bill of health from EPA) be disposed of inadequately and openly." He concludes, "The actions taken by EPA are, quite simply, illegal...
...EPA's misdeeds, fortunately, may not go completely unchecked. Assistant Administrator Jorling, whom both Kaufman and Sanjour have targeted for many of the agency's "illegal" policies, resigned in September after congressional hearings showed that he had condoned, if not ordered, the sudden cutbacks on EPA enforcement. His successor, Christopher Beck, "certainly talks like he's aggressive," says EPA official Steven Caldwell, who adds, "He has a good reputation for being an action-oriented, go-getter type...