Report from Informational Meeting on Environmental Issues
- October 15, 2002
An informational meeting was held in the Stuyvesant High School auditorium
from 6-7 p.m. on October 15, 2002, concerning the state of further
"clean-up" plans for the school in the aftermath of 9/11/01.
Representatives from the Parents' Association (PA) Health and Safety
Committee, the PA's environmental safety consultants, and interested
parents, attended. The following items were presented and discussed:
- The New York City Department of Education (DOE) issued a letter to the
PA, dated October 11, 2002, which indicated its position and plans
concerning the cleanup. Photocopies of this letter were distributed.
This letter, along with supporting documents from the EPA, DOH and DEP,
are to be posted and available for review on the Stuyvesant website. This
letter was discussed.
- Previously testing for asbestos fiber release from the auditorium
carpeting was carried out under the authority of the DOE. In essence,
this consisted of vacuuming the carpet under a plastic tent, and sampling
the air under the tent for asbestos fibers thrown off. The levels of
asbestos measured in this test exceeded acceptable safety limits in one of
five samples, "for a short period of time." The PA consultants stated
they were in the building on the day of this testing, but were not
informed of it transpiring, and have requested, but have not received, a
videotape of this testing process. Subsequently, the carpets in the
auditorium have been replaced.
- Air samples at other locations in the auditorium at that testing time
did not reveal asbestos.
- A question was raised as to whether auditorium follow-up air sampling
for asbestos had been carried out at peak traffic times, such as
assemblies, meetings, etc., with high auditorium occupancy. It seems it
has not.
- The PA environmental consultants felt that prior to this cleanup, it
was "likely that some children in the auditorium got some asbestos
exposure," but the significance of such exposure for long-term health
would be uncertain.
- All other carpets at Stuyvesant, and the auditorium curtain, will be
replaced before the start of the school year 2003. Since air sampling
currently indicates no release of asbestos from these items on a routine
basis, the DOE plans to carry out these replacements during school
vacations and down times, to minimize disruption to the academic year. A
discussion of whether there was a need for these replacements to proceed
more rapidly, based on the evidence present, took place.
- A discussion then followed concerning potential asbestos contamination
in the auditorium seats, the health risks, if any, posed by such
contamination, and the best way to assess such.
- The PA consultants explained the safety standards for asbestos exposure
is based on inhalation of the fibers and therefore utilizes air testing.
These standards were developed for construction sites, boiler rooms, etc.
These areas may have airborne construction dust, or dust on dry hard
surfaces, which can be blown up into the air and then tested for. There
is no industry standard for assessing health risks from potentially
contaminated porous materials, such as auditorium seats.
- There are methods for measuring asbestos in the seats
(ultrasonification or microvacuuming). However, the point of contention
on this matter is the meaning for long-term health of asbestos found and
measured by these techniques. If some asbestos is extracted from a seat
by microvacuuming or ultrasound now, does that mean that over time in the
future significant particles will be released into the air, inhaled by
auditorium users, and affect their health? Our consultants indicated that
no data exists to answer this question.
- As a result of this uncertainty, the DOE, and their consulting
agencies, has declined to employ these techniques to assess for any
asbestos in the auditorium seats. Mr. Ross speculated that their
reasoning seems to be that even if there were detections, the meaning of
such detections would be unknown, and basically, positive detections
without industry standards with which to compare would never be sufficient
to warrant the expense of replacing all of the auditorium seat covers.
- The PA has offered to pay for testing of sample seats from the
auditorium for asbestos, but the DOE declined the offer.
- The DOE has tested the seats for asbestos release into the air, rather
than for asbestos content in the fabric per se, by enclosing some seats in
a plastic tent and beating on the seats with a hard object. Five air
samples taken from this set up revealed no asbestos.
- A question was raised as to the cost of just replacing all the
auditorium seats now, without testing, with the PA footing the bill. No
information was available on this item.
- The PA attorneys had advised previously that a class-action suit
against the DOE, in an attempt to get them to undertake asbestos abatement
would likely fail.
- A question was raised concerning Battery Park City's position on this
item, since they own the building, their residents use the building, and
assumedly BPC has some legal responsibility. No information was available
on this matter.
- The PA environmental consultants concluded by saying they felt that
the auditorium seats should be tested for asbestos, but they felt they
would not be able to tell us the health risks of any asbestos they
detected.
- This matter will be discussed further at upcoming Health and Safety
Committee meetings. Some parents suggested this matter be put on the
agenda for future general PA meetings, or alternatively a special PA
meeting be called to discuss this matter further.
Parent Member Doug Labar
was kind enough to make notes from the discussion
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