Officials from Charleston International Airport are seeking to recoup finances spent on the removal of asbestos-containing material discovered during renovation. The asbestos, which is embedded in a waterproofing agent, will delay construction at the airport by approximately one month. It will also cost $670,000 to remove, a cost not included in the redevelopment project’s $200,000,000 price tag.
Director Paul Campbell said that the airport’s patrons and employees were never exposed to the harmful substance because it was behind brick walls and never airborne.
Because the original construction was done in the early ’80s, after asbestos was banned, Campbell and other airport officials are seeking to hold the violators financially responsible. “When the airport was built, it was widely known that asbestos was toxic,” said airport attorney Arnold Goodstein. “We are going to look closely to see if we can recover this funding from the contractor who installed it or the manufacturer who made it.”
Although the original contractor used the asbestos-containing material after the ban, there is a possibility that its use was legal. According to Anne Kearse, a Mount Pleasant-based attorney who specializes in asbestos cases, not all asbestos-containing products were banned in the ’70s. “There are some products that still have asbestos that are properly labeled,” she explained. “They have to be below a certain level.”
After more than three decades, there’s also a possibility that the responsible parties are out of reach. “If the contractor or the manufacturer are no longer in business, the airport could turn to the retailer who sold it, but even then, airport officials could have to dig deeper to make a legal case,” said Kearse.
Asbestos exposure is extremely hazardous to respiratory health, and it is the primary cause of mesothelioma, a rare type of cancer that has a dire prognosis. Despite the ban on asbestos, approximately 3,000 mesothelioma diagnoses are made each year.