After a fire on January 29 at Arkansas’s Fort Chaffee burned over 100 acres and more than 150 WWII-era buildings, area officials asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to declare portions of the closed base a disaster area, which would make federal funds available for the cleanup. The Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority says they will appeal the decision. Although the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality found that asbestos contamination at the site ranged from 3 to 65 percent, see related story, it has been classified as “special” so it could be placed in the regular landfill. U.S. Rep. John Boozman says that, to support an appeal, the group needs more specific information on the cleanup required, the levels of toxicity at the site and whether the asbestos will need to be put in a secure location. Current cleanup estimates are as high as $4.6 million. Boozman has also suggested working with the EPA to look for other options for funding a cleanup. Although Fort Chaffee is quiet now, it was the site of Elvis Presley’s famous military haircut. Fort Chaffee also housed Cuban refugees in 1980 and Katrina refugees in 2005.

For the full story, go to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette and Southwest Times Record.

A bankruptcy judge in Pittsburgh has ruled that insurers for Federal-Mogul Corp. may be required to pay in excess of $500 million into a bankruptcy trust to compensate the victims of Federal Mogul’s asbestos products. Judge Judith Fitzgerald rejected the insurers’ claims that they had committed to pay claims against the company, but paying into a bankruptcy trust did not fall under that deal. The ruling required the insurers to immediately begin paying claims being handled by the trust just as they would have paid claims against Federal Mogul had it never filed for bankruptcy. The judge’s ruling makes more money available for asbestos claimants, but it also encourages the strategy, popular with companies facing asbestos liabilities, to divert asbestos claims into a bankruptcy trust funded in part with insurance money.

For the full story, go to the Houston Chronicle.

A Barbour County man has filed an asbestos suit against 25 companies, claiming he was exposed to the dangerous mineral dust as a child, when his father came home from work with the dusts on his clothing. via The West Virginia Record

Recent news that a retired teacher in North Wales died of asbestos-related mesothelioma has prompted the U.K.’s Association of Teachers and Lecturers to take up the call for the government to remove asbestos from all British schools by the year 2010. See related story. The first step is to require that every school be surveyed for the presence of asbestos. More than 400 teachers’ union members already know they have been exposed to asbestos at work, but without a comprehensive survey, no one knows how many schools contain asbestos and where other teachers and students could be at risk.

For the full story, go to the Daily Post North Wales.

Sir Bobby Robson has launched a 500,000 cancer fundraising mission in thanks to Newcastle doctor Ruth Plummer for saving his life. via The Journal Newspaper Online

In the cleanup following the recent tornado that ripped through Atlanta, Georgia, residents are warned to be aware that roofing materials often incorporate asbestos. The problem is particularly acute in older buildings, but asbestos is still used in some modern roofing materials as well. Where asbestos is a factor, certain safety procedures must be followed during cleanup of the tornado debris to avoid inhalation of asbestos fibers. Asbestos exposure, even in very small doses, can cause malignant mesothelioma, a devastating cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs, abdomen or heart.

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has ruled that the U.S. Air Force must pay builders $6.4 million to reimburse them for the costs of cleaning up asbestos contamination in Lowry, Colorado. The award includes damages called “unabsorbed overhead,” which reimburses the builders for money lost because of construction delays while asbestos cleanup was going on.

For the full story, go to the Rocky Mountain Times.

Current statistics show 2,000-3,000 people are diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma in the U.S. each year, and 10,000 Americans die from all asbestos-related diseases, according to statistics compiled ... via Earth Times

"On pleural plaques, we are looking at the matter at this very moment. "We will publish a consultation document soon. We are determined to take some action."

HOPE has emerged for hundreds of workers who contracted pleural plaques. Ministers are attempting to seal a deal that would see insurers pay up to 5,000 each to sufferers of the condition. via The Journal Newspaper Online

Scientists in Ohio, studying the health of workers who made lawn products more than 25 years ago using asbestos-tainted vermiculite from W.R. Grace’s Libby, Montana mine, have confirmed the danger of even low level exposure to asbestos in the ore. Researchers found that low level exposure to vermiculite caused an increased incidence of lung disease in the almost 300 workers included in the study. The workers had all been x-rayed in 1980, when the plant stopped using W.R. Grace’s vermiculite. Scientists compared those x-rays to new ones and found that more than one half the workers showed health changes in his lungs. Dr. James Lockey, who performed the study, said that this study is helpful because it confirms that the asbestos fibers in W.R. Grace’s vermiculite stays in the body and causes lung changes in a high percentage of people, even after relatively low exposure concentrations.

For the full story, go to MontanaNewsStation.com.