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For Release: (Washington, D.C. -- July 13, 2005

 

 

Enforcement Wrap-up

 

Contact: Stacie Keller, 202-564-4355 / keller.stacie@epa.gov

 

Two Men Convicted of Illegal Asbestos Removal in the Virgin Islands

 

On June 30, Cleve Allen George of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands

and Dylan C. Starnes of Atlanta, Ga., were each convicted by a jury in

U.S. District Court for the District of the Virgin Islands in St. Thomas

of violating the Clean Air Act by illegally removing asbestos and filing

false air monitoring reports to the Virgin Islands Housing Authority and

the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. In January and

February 2001, the defendants conducted a demolition at the Donoe

Housing Community in the Virgin Islands. During this demolition, they

violated federal asbestos workplace standards by using a power washer to

strip thousands of square feet of asbestos-containing material from

ceilings. The asbestos material then washed out over the ground and

into sewers. Improperly removing such material can cause asbestos

fibers to become airborne, and inhaling airborne asbestos is a cause of

lung cancer, a lung disease known as "asbestosis" and mesothelioma, a

cancer of the chest and abdominal cavities. The case was investigated

by the New York Area Office of EPA's Criminal Investigation Division and

the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources with

support from EPA's National Enforcement Investigations Center. It is

being prosecuted by the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S.

Department of Justice and by the U.S. attorney's office for the District

of the Virgin Islands.

 

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