THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, DECEmbER 2, 2022 Page 7 Asbestos consulting company settles claims of illegal asbestos work at Everett redevelopment project Settlement requires company to cease operations after it repeatedly putting the health of workers and residents at risk O n November 29, Attorney General Maura Healey announced that a Brockton asbestos consulting company will pay $52,000 in penalties and cease all operations to settle claims of illegal asbestos work during the 2020 redevelopment of a multi-building site that included multiple homes and an apartment building in a densely populated Environmental Justice (EJ) neighborhood in Everett. This is the third case that the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Offi ce has brought against the same company in two years for illegal asbestos work at projects in Rockland, Arlington, Malden, Waltham, Boston and Everett. The consent judgment, which was entered in Suff olk Superior Court, settles a lawsuit brought by the Attorney General’s Offi ce against Enviro-Safe Engineering, the asbestos consulting company hired to survey the buildings set for demolition, including a former church, a parish hall, two single-family homes and an apartment building, for the presence of asbestos. The Attorney General’s lawsuit alleges that the company violated the state’s clean air law and regulations by failing to properly inspect and sample areas that commonly contain materials potentially contaminated with asbestos and by failing to properly sample the areas that Enviro-Safe did inspect. The complaint further alleges that, as a result of these violations, the demolition of the buildings caused a release of asbestos at the work site, endangering workers, residents and others in the community. “Contractors who work with asbestos have an obligation to abide by our state’s critical workplace safety regulations and environmental laws,” Healey said. “This company repeatedly put the health and safety of its workers and the public at risk with their reckless and dangerous work practices, and today’s settlement stops them from doing it again.” “The Mass. Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) has a team of analysts, scientists, investigators and attorneys who are expert in and dedicated to enforcing the Commonwealth’s asbestos regulations,” said Director Eric Worrall of MassDEP’s Northeast Regional Offi ce in Wilmington. “These laws are on the books to protect the environment and the public health, and the Department will continue to partner with the Attorney General’s Offi ce to refer the most egregious cases, including consultants who repeat serious violations, for appropriate prosecution and resolution.” Under the terms of the consent judgment with Enviro-Safe Engineering, in addition to paying $52,000 in civil penalties, the company must cease all business operations, including all asbestos-related work. This settlement comes after the Attorney General’s Offi ce resolved two previous cases with Enviro-Safe Engineering by consent judgment for asbestos violations over the last two years. Under a 2021 settlement with the Attorney General’s Offi ce, the company was required to pay $165,000 in penalties, retrain its employees on asbestos safety and implement a detailed document management system to ensure accurate documentation of its asbestos work in the future to settle allegations of illegal asbestos work at homes in Boston, Malden, Arlington and Waltham. In 2020 the Attorney General’s Offi ce reached a settlement with Enviro-Safe, requiring the company to pay $10,000 in civil penalties for its involvement in illegal asbestos work at a large-scale renovation project at a low-income housing complex in an EJ neighborhood in Rockland. Asbestos is a mineral fi ber that is used in a wide variety of building materials, from roofing and fl ooring, to siding and wallboard, to caulking and insulation. If asbestos is improperly handled or maintained, fi - bers can be released into the air and inhaled, potentially resulting in life-threatening illnesses, including asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma. Healey has made asbestos safety a priority, as part of her offi ce’s “Healthy Buildings, Healthy Air” Initiative that was announced in March 2017 to better protect the health of children, families and workers in Massachusetts from health risks posed by asbestos. Since September 2016, the Attorney General’s Offi ce, with the assistance of MassDEP, has successfully brought asbestos enforcement cases that together have resulted in more than $6.2 million in civil penalties. For more information on asbestos and asbestos-related work, visit MassDEP’s website outlining asbestos construction and demolition notification requirements (https://www.mass.gov/guides/ massdep-asbestos-construction-demolition-notifi cations). 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