The expense of dealing with asbestos contamination safely and legally can cripple a rural small town budget. Vacant buildings become dangerous as they decay, but the expense of renovating or even demolishing such buildings is often beyond the community’s resources. Small towns face the additional difficulties and expense of being far from certified contractors with the technical knowledge to perform asbestos removal legally, as well as from landfills that are qualified and prepared to handle asbestos. In one small town, a contractor had already begun demolition of a building when state inspectors discovered asbestos, and the cost of cleaning up and removing the asbestos in this one building was more than the town’s entire annual budget. State and federal funding to assist such cleanups is limited and does not begin to cover the need. The high cost and lack of resources leads some property owners to ignore the law and the health risk by tearing down or renovating structures without using proper asbestos removal procedures. These individuals face little risk of being caught and fined for their actions, but they could face developing an asbestos-related cancer, such as mesothelioma, many years in the future.
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