HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 9362INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
No. 9362
March 1, 2011
Page 1 of 1
SUBJECT: ALTERNATIVE METHOD FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF ASBESTOS
DURING DEMOLITION OF REGULATED STRUCTURES.
The purpose of this report is to provide details on alternatives for the management of asbestos during
demolition of regulated structures.
The City of Fort Worth began working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1997
regarding the potential to expand the application of the "wet" demolition requirements to include
substandard buildings as declared by the Building Standards Commission. The "wet" demolition option
applies to buildings that have been declared "in danger of imminent collapse or structurally unsound."
The City of Fort Worth in partnership with the EPA performed a pilot test of this method on a residential
duplex in 1999. Based on the favorable pilot test results, Fort Worth and EPA continued to work together
to identify other properties to perform the method. The final property looked at under the Fort Worth
Method was the Cowtown Inn. However, the Cowtown Inn's demolition was performed following
traditional means with the removal of asbestos prior to demolition, not by the Fort Worth Method.
The EPA then drafted the Alternative Asbestos Control Method (ARCM), which took the process further to
include more engineering controls such as adding "soap" to the water to increase wetting effectiveness
and removing soil following a demolition. EPA began AACM assessment at Fort Chaffee in Fort Smith,
Arkansas, by performing a side -by -side comparison of the traditional National Emission Standard for
Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) and the ARCM. The results from the assessment went through peer
review and the report was finalized.
The AACM was subsequently tested by the EPA again at Fort Chaffee on a building with asbestos cement
siding (AACM2). This report has gone through peer review, but has yet to be published in final form by
EPA. The final AACM assessment was a joint effort between the City of Fort Worth and EPA to use the
AACM on a small building that contained "popcom" or acoustic ceiling texture (AACM3). This report too
has gone through peer review but has yet to be published in final form by EPA.
With the final reports for AACM2 and AACM3 still unpublished, the Alternative Asbestos Control Method is
on hold. Until the reports are published and the EPA makes changes to the NESHAP rules to allow the
AACM as one option in the management of asbestos during demolition, the City of Fort Worth and others
cannot legally use the ARCM. The City's options primarily include removal of regulated asbestos prior to
demolition or, if the structure has deteriorated to the point of being in danger of imminent collapse or
structurally unsound, the City may legally use the NESHAP wet demolition provision to manage the
asbestos.
If you have any questions regarding this topic, please contact Michael A. Gange, TPW Assistant Director,
at 817.392.6569.
,w-Tom Higgins
Interim City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER
FORT WORTH, TEXAS