Portland OR (3/10/2015) – The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality fined AAM Inc. $19,200 for asbestos violations during a residential asbestos abatement project at 262 NE 18th Ave. in Hillsboro.

The company failed to adequately wet friable, or breakable asbestos materials and to enclose the area where the materials were removed before abatement.

DEQ issued this penalty because these violations could have released asbestos fibers into the air and exposed workers and the public to asbestos. Asbestos fibers are a respiratory hazard proven to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis. Asbestos is a danger to public health and a hazardous air contaminant for which there is no known safe level of exposure.

AAM Inc. appealed the penalty.

Contacts: Steve Siegel, Environmental Law Specialist, Portland, 503-229-5395; Martin Abts, Asbestos Program, Coos Bay, 541-269-2721