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EPA settles asbestos case with Pacific Rim Partners, LLC., Company to pay $104,425

Release Date: 2/9/2004
Contact Information: Dean Higuchi, (808) 541-2711

HONOLULU--The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently settled its case against Pacific Rim Partners, LLC, former owner of the Islander on the Beach Hotel on Kauai, that requires the company to pay $104,425 for alleged asbestos removal violations at the hotel in 1999.

The complaint is for alleged violations of the EPA's Clean Air Act asbestos regulations covering the emission, handling and disposal of asbestos, as well as record-keeping and notification requirements. The company is also being fined for an alleged violation of the EPA's Toxic Substances Control Act regulations that require accreditation for workers removing friable asbestos in a public or commercial building.

"Companies need to hire workers who are trained and accredited to remove asbestos properly," said Deborah Jordan, the EPA's air division director for the Pacific Southwest region. "The EPA and the Hawai'i Department of Health will continue their inspections to ensure that companies follow the regulations to protect the health and safety of both the workers and the public."

The EPA and the Department of Health inspectors found that the company allegedly failed to:

-provide proper notification of the asbestos removal,
-properly wet the asbestos material until it was collected for disposal,
-control the emissions of the material being removed,
-dispose of the asbestos properly,
-employ workers accredited to remove asbestos.

Asbestos is a known environmental carcinogen. Individuals exposed to airborne asbestos fibers can contract illnesses such as mesothelioma and lung cancer.
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