Sacramento Bee, David Whitney
Published May 10, 2005
WASHINGTON - Rep. John Doolittle, whose congressional district includes El Dorado County, where naturally occurring asbestos has become a growing health concern, on Tuesday endorsed legislation by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein to provide federal help to define the extent of the problem and set exposure standards.
The Roseville Republican's endorsement, a rare bridging of the ideological divide between the two parties on a California environmental issue, came as the Environmental Working Group sought to undermine Feinstein's provision in the Senate.
The group charged that her measure's language is "next to meaningless" because those who may become sickened from asbestos kicked up by construction equipment or other environmental exposure will not have the same rights to compensation as those sickened from industrial exposure.
But Doolittle said there is no reason to believe that the El Dorado asbestos problems have risen to the level of a health crisis, adding that the measured approach of the Democratic senator's provision is appropriate.
"Environmentalists are salivating because they see this as another arrow in the quiver to pierce the heart of growth," Doolittle said.
The Senate Judiciary Committee resumes work today on asbestos legislation to create a $140 billion trust fund to compensate victims of industrial asbestos. But the bill faces long odds because many Democrats favor letting the courts sort out damages, while many Republicans see other problems with the bill.
Doolittle, for example, opposes the trust fund approach, saying it could bankrupt companies that processed asbestos and still not be enough to cover all the damages, thus eventually reopening the likelihood of litigation.
The Senate bill had been limited to resolving thousands of state and federal lawsuits over illness from industrial asbestos exposure. Then Feinstein earlier this month won an amendment addressing the growing problem of environmental exposure from land development in areas where asbestos occurs naturally, such as in El Dorado County.
The legislation would authorize $40 million for the Environmental Protection Agency to determine the location of natural asbestos deposits, establish remediation plans and determine exposure standards.
Doolittle said he will work to add the Feinstein provision to House legislation, making it about the only piece of the asbestos puzzle to cross the ideological division between the House and Senate.
"Her provisions are very good," said Doolittle. "I'd hope those would be included in any final piece of legislation that is going to become law."
But the House and Senate appear to be on a collision course over asbestos. The Senate bill, with its trust fund, has a House counterpart. But the more popular House bill would leave compensation up to the courts, with lawsuits limited to those who have actually been sickened.
It's not clear if the Senate committee will be able to conclude work on the bill this week because opponents, whose ranks include trial lawyers who favor unfettered access to the courts for their clients, have threatened dozens of amendments.
The Environmental Working Group, which receives some funding from trial lawyers for its asbestos lobbying, is worried that Feinstein, with her victory on environmental exposure, will swing Democratic votes for the bill.
"It's very close," said Richard Wiles, the group's senior vice president. "As it stands now, (Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.) and Feinstein are on this bill, and that creates dangerous momentum when it gets out of committee."
But Wiles said that Feinstein's provision wouldn't cause the EPA to do much more than it would anyway, and that those sickened by naturally occurring asbestos wouldn't be entitled to equal compensation.
"If you live in Libby, Montana, and come down with asbestos-caused lung cancer, you've got a guaranteed $400,000 - and you don't have to go through any of the hoops to get it. It's just not fair," Wiles said.
Nonsense, said Doolittle. Libby is where an asbestos mine was located and the city was thick with the toxic fibers over decades.
"I am not aware of any single documented illness in El Dorado County because of asbestos," Doolittle said. "We just want to know what the facts are."
Experts, however, have pointed out that it takes 20 to 30 years or more for lung disease to occur from exposure to asbestos.
In recent weeks, El Dorado Hills residents have had to weigh warnings from three sets of government regulators.
The EPA has found that everyday recreation at the city's busiest park and nearby school can increase exposure, while in April, a draft of another federal health agency's report recommended that people who have played, coached sports or maintained sports fields at Oak Ridge High School be checked for early signs of asbestos-related disease.
Earlier in April, the state Department of Toxic Substances Control advised people who live on the area's rural serpentine gravel roads or driveways to pave them to reduce asbestos exposure.
State and county air pollution officials have taken steps to reduce development-related exposure through measures such as wetting down construction sites to keep asbestos fibers from blowing away.
The El Dorado Union High School District last summer spent more than $1.5 million for asbestos protections at Oak Ridge High, and the EPA said it spent well above that amount to pave and landscape bare ground, and replace tainted soil in the baseball diamonds.
