EPA Asbestos Story May be Inaccurate

Both El Dorado Hills weeklies (Village Life and El Dorado Hills Telegraph) report to day that recent tests ad analysis about the naturally occuring asbestos in El Dorado Hills show markedly different results from those done by the EPA suggesting that the EPA study MAY be flawed. The November R. J Lee analysis found that 63% of the "asbestos" fibers were identified incorrectly by the EPA study.

Given that the El Dorado High School District has spent $1.7 million in mitigation, the Rescue Union School District $2.7 million and the Folsom-Cordova Unified School District $5 million, this is not a trivial issue for taxpayers. When the flacks from the EPA cannot even tell what risk the community runs if their trumped-up analysis were correct, these mitigation costs are unconsionable. And the papers do not mention the increased development costs from the new County standards for dust control at construction sites which surely contribute to housing costs for the area.

Why doesn't the EPA do something useful and study what the actual risks of airborn asbestos particles. Next, they might avoid threatening local governments with possible legal action for groundless (or at least unproven) unsafe conditions.Then, finally, they might consider running good studies.

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