Michigan governor proposes cut to asbestos department

The governor of Michigan has proposed to cut the Department of Environmental Quality program. The program was designed to make sure that buildings followed the federal asbestos rules.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm said that Michigan can no longer afford to inspect buildings scheduled for demolition or renovation to prevent asbestos contamination.

If the Legislature passes the proposal, the U.S. Environment Protection Agency will take over responsibility for conducting inspections and punishing violators. The agency, which is located in Chicago, lacks the resources to do an adequate job according to critics.

The total budget is $341 million and the program only costs $350,000. The state only pays $250,000 of that. So the program is not a very big expense.

Robert McCann, a spokesman for Michigan, said that the department has no choice. He said that the state has been making many cuts recently and has orders to make even more to help reduce the projected $1.4 billion deficit in 2010. “You can discuss scaling back, but at a certain point you can’t do that any more and you have to cut entire programs,” McCann said.

Stopping the inspections would put workers who tear down and renovate buildings as well as people living and working nearby in great danger to asbestos exposure, said Dr. Michael Harbut. Dr. Harbut, a Wayne State University asbestos specialist, said, “There is no such thing as a safe level of exposure to asbestos,” and, “Asbestos is a killer.”

The department receives about 3,400 notifications a year from contractors doing demolition or renovation work. The division conducted 411 unannounced inspections in 2008.

Violators have paid about $800,000 in the past six years. Even though first offenders pay only a small fine, repeat offenders can get lawsuits.

The possibility of inspections makes contractors be more careful said Harbut. “There’s not a policeman on every expressway, but still you might not speed because you know they could show up at the next corner,” he added.

Asbestos exposure is the only know cause of an aggressive form of cancer, mesothelioma. Mesothelioma has a very long latency, often taking 40 years or longer for symptoms to show. Because it is very hard to diagnose, a mesothelioma diagnosis is usually fatal within 18 months.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis or lung cancer and you have worked around asbestos, it is important to get professional advice from an experienced mesothelioma attorney.