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Contracting Company Sentenced for Illegal Asbestos Removal in Connecticut
Release Date: 01/15/2003
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(01/15/03) Fred N. Durante, Jr., General Contractor Inc., was sentenced on Dec. 16 in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut in New Haven to serve three years probation and pay $132,300 for cleanup costs and medical costs for employee monitoring. The company unlawfully demolished a building containing asbestos in violation of the Clean Air Act. The violation occurred when Durante Inc., demolished the Woodway Country Club’s old clubhouse in Darien, Conn. Although the building contained 15,000 square feet of asbestos ceiling plaster, the project manager for Durante arranged to have only 8,000 square feet of it lawfully abated. Company workers then demolished the rest of the building, not knowing that unabated asbestos remained. Two workers did not take precautions against asbestos exposure and they will require on-going medical monitoring for which the company will pay. Worker precautions against asbestos exposure are required to prevent workers from inhaling asbestos fibers which is a known cause of lung cancer, a lung disease known as “asbestosis” and mesothelioma, which is a cancer of the chest and abdominal cavities. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division with assistance from the Connecticut Department of Public Health and EPA=s National Enforcement Investigations Center. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Haven.
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