Asbestos Removal Too Expensive for College
Student leaders at Colorado State University, concerned about the amount of asbestos in campus buildings, have been rallying state legislators for more money for the college’s maintenance fund after being told that the state-run school cannot afford asbestos abatement.
An article in the Rocky Mountain Collegian, the college’s newspaper, notes that most campus buildings still contain asbestos after several partial removals since the Environmental Protection Agency-mandated elimination of new asbestos-containing construction materials in 1988.
Up to 60 percent of the ceiling tiles in Clark Hall, for example, contain asbestos, said Eric March, a health safety specialist with Environmental Health Services.
Facilities Manager Brian Chase maintains that the asbestos in its current state is a non-issue, noting that the university would remove it all if the budget allowed for it. However, the cost would be exorbitant, Chase said.
“We currently do not get enough money to maintain the buildings,” Chase said. “If there is a hazardous situation, then it becomes an immediate concern. But asbestos in its undisturbed form is not hazardous.”
Chase estimated the cost of removing asbestos from all buildings at “tens of millions of dollars.” He told the student newspaper that the school is already $150 million short on maintenance funds.
“The problem is there are other more pressing needs here on campus,” Chase said. “We have roofs that need to be fixed, mechanical and electrical problems, and classrooms that need to be upgraded. If Environmental Health Safety thought the asbestos was dangerous, we’d do something about it,” he added, noting that the school goes beyond EPA standards for asbestos maintenance.
The students, however, think abatement is essential. “…ASCSU (Associated Students of CSU) has been advocating the allocation of money so that certain things such as this can be taken care of,” said student senator Cooper Anderson. “Our position is basically that for the tuition we pay, the academic environment should be top notch in all its phases.”
Anderson and his fellow student government members, however, understand that there’s little they can do to address the situation until more funds are available.
“What we’ve learned through this whole situation is that the health risk is pretty minimal. We’re working right now on doing it incrementally,” he said. “The problem is that construction projects and transportation projects are the last things to get budgeted.”
CSU does not currently have an abatement plan or timeline in place