Date: 1990-10-26
Speaker: THOMAS A. LUKEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. S. 1893. the Asbestos School Hazardous Abatement Reauthorization Act of 1989 [ASHAAJ will permit school officials to effectively undertake the critically necessary asbestos abatement activities required by the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act [AHERA] to protect our children. asbestos workers. and other building occupants from developing serious diseases such as asbestosis in their later years. Since ASHAAs enactment in 1984. the Federal Government has awarded grants and loans to primary and secondary schools to inspect for asbestos and to develop asbestos management plans. Unfortunately. because of the sometimes extraordinarily high cost of asbestos abatement and the lack of adequate Federal funding. many schools ahve been unable to fully implement their management plans. Worse yet are the situations where school officials have contracted for asbestos abatement only to find later that the abatement activities were carried out by inexperienced or poorly trained workers who actually aggravated the asbestos contamination problem. S. 1893. reauthorizes ASHAA to take into account the high costs associated with plan implementation. Hearings held by the Subcommittee on Transportation and Hazardous Materials earlier this Congress clearly showed the need for reauthorization of this act. EPA estimates that some 31.000 school buildings contain some form of asbestos material and that as many as 15 million schoolchildren are exposed. almost onethird of the Nations school population. And as many as 1.4 million school employees work in buildings that contain asbestos materials. During the 1990 award cyle. only 11 percent of school funding requests for assistance were granted. Thus. the largest part of this program of comprehensive asbestos abatement in our schools is yet to be carried out. In addition to reauthorizing this program. the bill requires EPA to increase the number of hours for asbestos abatement worker training accreditation while also extending these requirements to workers who inspect for asbestos or abate friable asbestos in public and commercial buildings. These additional requirements are essential to the successful implementation of all abatement activities. Testifying at the subcommittees hearings. an EPA Assistant Administrator said that: [Ulnless all safeguards are properly applied and strictly adhered to. exposure in the building can rise. perhaps to levels where we know disease can occur. Consequently. an ill conceived or poorly conducted removal project can actually increase rather than eliminate risk. The bill also authorizes annual training grant program for nonprofit organizations to establish and operate asbestos training programs to insure that asbestos workers in public and commercial buildings are properly trained. Finally. the bill holds contractors civilly liable for failing to obtain accreditation for or hiring an employee without the necessary accreditation to undertake asbestos inspections or abatement activities. In addition to enjoying bipartisan support. S. 1893. as amended is supported by. among others. the National Educators Association. the Parent Teachers Association. the Laborers International. and the Service Employees International Union. I would like to thank my colleague.