Asbestos in Connecticut federal building causes U.S. Attorney’s office to move out
The Brien McMahon Federal Building was built in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1966. For 28 years, asbestos in the federal building has been an issue and a concern to workers. The U.S. Attorney’s office is so concerned about the health hazards that they are looking for new office space. Members of the office have claimed to see flaking asbestos and what they suspect is asbestos dust on their desks and floor after maintenance work.
The General Services Administration (GSA), which maintains the federal building, states that there is no asbestos contamination, citing quarterly air sample tests that returned results below OSHA’s acceptable asbestos exposure limit.
Despite the results of the GSA’s air tests, the staff at the U.S. Attorney’s office is still concerned about possible asbestos exposure whenever renovations and remodeling take place. Some of the staff has been allowed to work at the U.S. Attorney’s office in New Haven.
The U.S. Attorney’s office was given permission to move after a June 2009 meeting with representatives from the office, the GSA and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys. The office was given permission for the move to be permanent. In the last 10 years, the FBI and the DEA also moved out of the federal building permanently.
The first air sample test in the Brien McMahon Federal Building was taken in 1981. Two years later, it was identified by the GSA as the 14th worst building with flaking asbestos. In 1984, U.S. Senator Chris Dodd was advised by the GSA that the asbestos abatement procedure would cost $1.3 million. The project required congressional approval, but it was canceled.
Since then, the GSA has overseen the remediation and encapsulation of asbestos in the federal courtrooms, judicial chambers, clerk’s office, grand jury meeting room, U.S. Diplomatic Services office, U.S. Probation office, the U.S. Marshals Service office, the Bankruptcy courtroom and core office on the first floor. Similar renovations will likely take place in the office space currently occupied by the U.S. Attorney’s office after it is vacated. The space can then be used as swing space for the federal building’s other tenants as their offices are renovated.
For the full story, go to The Connecticut Post Online.
