ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY,
MAINE, LAWYER
EPA awards $6.1M asbestos cleanup grant to select cities and towns of Maine

June 4, 2009 – The city of Lewiston in Maine’s asbestos-plagued Androscoggin County is one of a half dozen cities in the state that will receive a generous slice of a $6.1-million EPA asbestos cleanup grant to remove asbestos and other pollutants, our mesothelioma lawyer notes.

The cities of Bath and Augusta are also receiving grants, as are the towns of Howland, Orono and Windham. The Bath Iron Works shipyard, like all Maine shipyards, exposed shipbuilders and repairmen to significant amounts of asbestos ever since 1826, when it was originally built. The environmental grants are part of the massive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that the Obama Administration signed into law last February.

Androscoggin County residents risk asbestos disease

Androscoggin County is the seventh deadliest county in Maine for deaths due to asbestosis and mesothelioma, according to the EWG Action Fund, a nonprofit Washington, D.C.-based environmental organization which conducted the first national study on deaths due to asbestos. There are 16 counties in Maine. Cumberland, Sagadahoc and York counties are the worst affected.

Approximately 24 Androscoggin County residents died specifically from asbestos exposure between 1979 and 2001 according to the study, which emphasized that the mortality figure may represent only 20 percent of actual fatalities because the government did not begin tracking mesothelioma as a cause of death until 1999.

Asbestos removal is critical to the residents of Androscoggin County, as airborne asbestos particles pose a serious health threat. Once inhaled, asbestos particles can become permanently lodged in the lining of the lungs, and can lead to certain medical conditions, including lung cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma.

Androscoggin lawyer with asbestos update

Before 1970, asbestos was used in a wide range of products, from floor tiles to acoustical ceiling tiles, building insulation and automotive parts. Shipyards, like the ones in Maine, are notorious hot beds for occupational asbestos exposure.

Asbestos is no longer mined in the United States, and manufacturing processes limit it to one percent or less under 1989 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rulings, but imported products still contain asbestos in unregulated amounts. Because of this failure to regulate, the CDC estimates that 1.3 million construction and industrial workers are currently being exposed to potentially lethal asbestos. This is in addition to the millions of workers already exposed.

Weitz & Luxenberg – Champion to the working class

Weitz & Luxenberg, New York's preeminent personal injury law firm, has championed the rights of workers for 25 years, and has won more than a billion dollars in verdicts and settlements for clients injured by asbestos.

If you have been diagnosed with an occupational asbestos disease and seek a free legal consultation, please notify us through the communication form on this page. We will pursue your claim with vigilance. And because we work on a contingency basis, there is no cost to you at all until we win a settlement or verdict. Contact us today!