Coffin Construction Plans

Asbestos levels halt demolition work on Forster building

WILTON — Demolition of the former Forster Manufacturing building came to a standstill Wednesday after recent testing revealed high levels of airborne asbestos.

Downeast Construction voluntarily shut down operations after Occupational Safety and Health Administration test results came back this week revealing high asbestos levels, William Coffin, area director for OSHA in Maine, said Thursday.

Police posted crime scene tape across entrances Thursday morning to keep anyone from going on to the site.

"No one should be in the building without proper risk costumes, respirators, boots, gloves and head protection," said Coffin.

Those who go with the protective clothing can be taken apart when they leave. Those who are not protected can bring asbestos fibers with them, he said.

OSHA workers could not go into the building Wednesday. Coffin said he would not expose its workers to asbestos.

A few weeks earlier, OSHA representatives conducted an inspection at the Depot Street plant is currently being demolished for scrap materials.

Samplings were taken for airborne asbestos which are then sent to a national laboratory. Results came back this week showing airborne asbestos at levels higher than are permissible, he said.

OSHA representatives told the construction company about the results Wednesday. They agreed to come off the job until a licensed asbestos remediation contractor could come in and safely remove all asbestos.

Coffin believed less than 10 employees have been exposed to high levels of asbestos on the job but it goes further than just them.

A fire reported Monday at the Forster mill brought firefighters and policemen on to the site.

An air sample from across the street was also taken but test results are not back yet, he said, when asked about neighbors living near the mill.

It appears there was asbestos in materials stored across the street. The asbestos was run over by vehicles.

Once employees are made aware of their exposure to asbestos, they are advised to go through medical evaluations and chest X-rays to look for the presence of asbestos fibers. OSHA can't make an employee pursue medical testing but they can force the employer to make the testing available to them, he said.

While some workers are exposed to asbestos all their lives and never contract Asbestosis, for others, low exposure results in the disease that can lead on to cancers.

Indian Point Updates by Abby Luby: Fukushima: The Nail in the ...

Fukushima makes real the dangers of nuclear power and a stunned world reacted. Many governments took action to either close their aging nuclear power plants or stop the construction of new ones. In Germany the coalition government decided that all 17 of the their nuclear power plants would be closed by 2022 and one of Germany’s oldest and largest nuclear facilities, RWE, permanently shut down just last week, caving to political pressure. Joining RWE in shutting down a plant was the utility company Vattenfall Europe.In Italy, a national referendum saw voters overwhelmingly repealed a law that would allow the construction of new reactors. Switzerland plans to phase out their reactors, the new plants expected to be operational until 2034 and all proposals for new facilities will be denied. Mexico is also considering taking similar measures. Despite Fukushima, other countries are moving forward with nuclear power, including China, England, India and the United States. China is about 28 test plants currently under construction and will have 100 plants in operation in 2020. England just announced last week that it plans to build eight new nuclear power plants and India has a new plant whose construction is slated to start in two years. Here in the United States the nuclear power renaissance that was in full swing before Fukushima, has slowed. The Obama Administration was pushing for an additional $36 million in loan guarantees to sweeten the deal and encourage utility companies to build more nuclear power plants. Some plants that were slated to receive those loans have now been mothballed. There are, however, new reactors in Georgia and South Carolina poised for construction, pending regulatory approval and financial backing. In Georgia, utility giant Southern Company, who already has two reactors at their Vogtle plant, has been awarded $8.3 billion of guaranteed federal loans to build two more reactors, scheduled to go on line in 2016. Although the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has yet to approve Southern’s application, construction has already started on the site.In South Carolina, Scana Corporation plans to build two reactors at their posts near Jenkinsville Summer Nuclear targeting 2016 as the first year to produce electricity. But do we need all the electricity produced by nuclear power?

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