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Ron Dokell, president of Demolition Consultants in Houston and another member of the panel, was more optimistic. He said he doesn't think anyone around the Oak Hollow property is in danger. "If it's done properly, safetywise, it's just as good as any other method," he said. Still being tested Under current federal law, materials containing asbestos must be removed before a building is demolished. That's required in the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, or NESHAP. The 2,200-square-foot Oak Hollow office building is scheduled to be demolished with what is now being called the alternative asbestos control method. In this case, the office will be doused with foam to reduce the chances that dust will be kicked up. The building will then be demolished with the asbestos still intact. All the building material would be disposed of in a landfill authorized to take asbestos-tainted material. The rest of the apartment complex will be torn down using the traditional method of removing the asbestos before demolition. Brian Boerner, Fort Worth's environmental management director, said the peer review study from Fort Chaffee in Arkansas and data from a second test at the base earlier this year are promising. He said it's possible this could be safer than the standard method. "When you read the peer review in its totality, it is encouraging," Mr. Boerner said. Fort Worth wanted to use this method to demolish the former Cowtown Inn motel in 2004. But the EPA backed off because of opposition f rom nearby residents and environmentalists. Mr. Boerner said that testing and refining, including the use of foam instead of water, have made the method safer and more effective. Adele Cardenas Malott, an asbestos NESHAP program manager for the EPA, said this will be the agency's third test of the alternative method and part of continuing research about whether and how to change its rules governing asbestos removal. "That will be a very long and time-consuming process," she said. Opposition Representatives of Public Interest, the group that fought the use of the Fort Worth method at the Cowtown Inn, said the method is not ready for testing in a populated area. They said at a news conference Monday that the dangers are still too great. The federal government has ruled that there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos. "There is no doubt that asbestos will be released into the community," said Scott Frost, a lawyer working with Public 7ustice. He said the health consequences of this test won't be known for 20 or 30 years. Cancer and lung diseases caused by asbestos often take decades to develop. Fredy Polanco, a peer review panelist and member of the Asbestos Advisory Committee for the Texas Department of Health, said this method has the potential to be safe, but he's concerned z 61 (e)