Asbestos shuts down construction project in sausalito

Sausalito, California ‘ Sausalito officials were forced to temporarily shut down a construction project situated near the Bay Model, after locals became concerned about asbestos exposure and dust created at the site. The construction project is a $7 million rehabilitation of an old South Pacific Division Laboratory. The US Department of Veterans will convert the old site into a new research center. The site was once the Marinship Ship Yard, which was was placed with the War Assets Administration in 1946 and converted to a geotechnical testing laboratory in 1950. Around ten years after the laboratory closed in 1997 ownership was transferred to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Part of the work has involved asbestos abatement, and over the weekend contractors dressed in protective clothing began removing asbestos siding from the building. During the course of the word wind began blowing dust from the construction site into nearby homes and boats. Concerned residents called police and firefighters to the scene, and the work was ordered to be stopped. Police Chief Scott Paulin said there was dust in the air and a layer of dust on nearby boats, and noted that arriving police cars also became covered in a dust layer. On Monday May 5, city officials called the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to ask for the work site to be reviewed. An inspector said that the work complied with the necessary building regulations and also said that the asbestos-containing siding was not being cut, broken, or crushed, so asbestos was not being released into the air. In addition, the inspector said it wouldn’t be possible to determine what was in the dust that was released during the weekend work. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District will continue monitoring the site. Work may resume as early as Tuesday May 6. Veterans Affairs spokesperson Judi Cheary said that all proper procedures were being followed at the construction site, but Sausalito Planning Director Jeremy Graves said that even if the dust was harmless, locals should still have been warned. Before the site was cleaned, a study of groundwater and soil had shown concentrations of arsenic and polychlorinated biphenyls in addition to asbestos. The site should be safe post-cleanup, however. The site construction will take two years to complete. Once the research center is open the VA plans to study post-traumatic stress disorder, HIV, liver disease, and other conditions. (Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News)