Dan Desler is an Oregon businessman and developer who has been charged with felony violations of the Clean Air Act for his activities at property he owns through a foundation in Sweet Home, Oregon.
Desler was arrested in connection with an ongoing investigation by the Oregon State Police and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and has been found insolvent. Federal officials have called the cleanup “urgent†and it is likely that the federal Superfund program will be required to foot the bill for the clean up instead of Desler.
Desler acquired property in Sweet Home with the intent of building a housing complex called Santiam Commons that would create jobs for unemployed Sweet Home loggers through his non-profit foundation named Western States Land Reliance Trust.
His trust, located on an old mill site that is highly contaminated with asbestos. It is also the site of an old gravel pit that has at least 12,000 dump truck’s worth of trash. Desler hired Charles Corp and began deconstruction of the mill site in 2007. However, he did so without the oversight of either local or federal asbestos remediation agencies. He also failed to hire certified personnel or provide appropriate equipment for asbestos remediation.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality was called in, and the matter was referred to the EPA. Superfund, the environmental remediation program established to address abandoned hazardous waste sites and funded by a nationwide tax on chemical and industrial producers, is ready to move in and continue to the cleanup.
The price tag of the cleanup has not been publicly stated, but Delser estimates the cleanup to cost about $250,000.
Asbestos exposure has been linked to mesothelioma, a rare but very aggressive form of cancer. It often takes 20-30Â years for symptoms to appear and by the time they do, very little can be done.
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