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Janice Ellis <br />From: <br />Lisa Wright <br />Sent: <br />Friday, June 20, 2008 7:59 AM <br />To: <br />Janice Ellis <br />Subject: <br />FOR ABS <br />-----Original Message----- <br />From: Lewis F. McLain, ]r. [mailto:news@citybase.net] <br />Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 11:27 AM <br />To: Lisa Wright <br />Subject: Fort Worth: demolition method is drawing controversy <br />Posted on Wed, Dec. 05, 2007 <br />Demolition method is drawing controversy <br />By Scott Streater and Mike Lee <br />Star-Telegram staff writers <br />FORT WORTH The city is about to jump back into a controversy over how best to demolish <br />asbestos-contaminated buildings. <br />On Dec. 12, the city and federal government plan to demolish a building in Woodhaven by an <br />experimental procedure that has not been used in a residential area or studied to determine <br />whether it could harm nearby residents. <br />The procedure is a revised version of the "Fort Worth method" or "wet method" of asbestos <br />demolition, which does not require materials containing asbestos to be removed before the <br />structure is torn down. The wet method is therefore much cheaper than traditional removal. <br />When the city wanted to use the method in 2004 to demolish the Cowtown Inn, public health <br />officials said the demolition would release particles of asbestos into the air. The federal <br />Environmental Protection Agency says asbestos fibers, if inhaled, can increase the long-term <br />risk of serious health problems such as lung cancer. <br />Eventually the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which at the time was considering <br />amending federal law to include the wet method as an accepted asbestos removal procedure, <br />abandoned the proposal. The city demolished the building the standard way in 2005. <br />Now federal regulators say they have improved the method and want to try it at the Oak Hollow <br />apartment complex on the east side. They plan to use the wet method on its office building, <br />which is about 2,200 square feet, and traditional demolition on the rest of the complex. <br />Woodhaven residents, including 7oe Epps, chairman of Woodhaven Community Development, said <br />they had received plenty of notice and support removing the apartments, including the wet- <br />method trial. But other residents and local officials protested the plan at Tuesday's City <br />Council meeting. <br />State Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, questioned why the city has used only east-side <br />locations, such as the Cowtown Inn and Oak Hollow, for the asbestos tests. <br />1 <br />~ ~ ~Q~ <br />