A Michigan real estate company was sentenced to pay a $500,000 fine and serve two years of probation for illegally handling regulated asbestos-containing material during the demolition of a structure at a defunct industrial site, federal officials announced.
Applied Partners LLC pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act’s asbestos work practice standards for its role in the 2019 demolition of a structure at a defunct industrial site in Saginaw, Michigan. Asbestos exposure can cause mesothelioma and lung cancer, as well as noncancerous respiratory conditions such as asbestosis, prosecutors noted.
According to court documents, Applied Partners acquired the Saginaw property in 2018 with plans to demolish and scrap its structures before reselling the site. In fall 2019, despite knowing that regulated asbestos-containing material, or RACM, remained inside a structure known as the Power House, the company directed another firm to proceed with demolition.
Between approximately Sept. 19 and Oct. 24, 2019, employees of the company performing the demolition used heavy machinery to break apart brick walls and pull down at least one large facility component covered in RACM from the structure’s upper floors, according to court documents. The work violated numerous asbestos work practice standards. Demolition was halted only after environmental regulators conducted sampling and informed Applied Partners that it would need to remediate the remaining RACM before work could continue.
“Applied Partners knowingly disregarded asbestos work practice standards designed to protect human health,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “Today’s sentence demonstrates that public health is among our highest priorities, and we will prosecute those who violate environmental laws.”
EPA Assistant Administrator Jeffrey A. Hall of the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance said the demolition exposed workers to hazardous asbestos fibers through intentional disregard of the asbestos present at the site.
“This prosecution and sentencing shows that companies that profit off of exposing American workers or communities to hazardous air pollutants will be held accountable,” Hall said.
The EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division led the investigation, with assistance from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division’s Environmental Investigation Section.
The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Rachel Roberts of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section, Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine Hemann for the Eastern District of Michigan, and EPA Regional Criminal Enforcement Counsel Samuel Cardick.
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