DNR seeks to sue Cedar Rapids schools over asbestos

CEDAR RAPIDS - The director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources wants the Iowa Attorney General to seek legal action against the Cedar Rapids Community School District and one of its contractors for violations of national standards on asbestos removal.

According to a DNR litigation report, the violations occurred this year during asbestos removal at Washington High School.

As owner of the building, the school district is liable for any violations. The district's asbestos removal contractor, Abatement Specialists LLC of Cedar Rapids, is also named as a violator.

In the litigation report filed with the state Environmental Protection Commission by the DNR's Legal Services Bureau, the district and its contractor are accused of failure to remove all regulated asbestos-containing material before demolition; failure to keep it adequately wet; and failure to seal it in leak-tight containers.

The commission had been scheduled to vote on the DNR litigation request Dec. 15, but Kelli Book, an attorney in the DNR's Legal Services Bureau, said Monday the commission's agenda will be amended so that the Cedar Rapids schools' matter is moved to January.

Book said the DNR has met with school officials. The delay will give the DNR time to meet with Abatement Specialists, too, she said.

Book said she expects representatives from the district and contractor to speak to the commission in January.

In a statement Monday, the school district said it is reviewing the DNR's report with its legal counsel to develop a plan to discuss concerns raised by the DNR.

'Throughout the course of the district's interaction with the DNR, the district has cooperated with the DNR and taken action consistent with the DNR's directives to insure the safety of the job site,” the district stated.

The district statement said that it has no information that anyone has tested positive for asbestos who had been on the project site.

Abatement Specialists had no comment Monday.

The asbestos matter first surfaced in the news in July when the school district closed Washington High School for a couple of days after an air sample test found unacceptable levels of asbestos fibers inside the building.

At the time, Tom Wuehr, a DNR environmental specialist, told The Gazette, 'Someone did something not correctly. These are highly regulated processes. … Somewhere along the line, regulations were not being followed.”

In the DNR's litigation report, the DNR states that Wuehr told Brad Buck, the Cedar Rapids schools' superintendent, in July that the DNR would take action to force Abatement Specialists to cease operations at the school if the school district didn't. The DNR subsequently was told that another contractor was doing the work, the DNR's report states.

In its report, the DNR also stated that its review of employee records indicates that 119 workers from at least eight construction businesses were on site this summer at Washington High School from June 8 though July 15.

'It's unknown how many school employees, students and general public were in the school during that same time period,” the report stated.

The DNR's Book said the Iowa Attorney General's Office can seek a penalty of $10,000 a day per violation, but she said the Iowa Attorney General typically seeks to reach a settlement before a matter heads into court.