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

June 3, 2009 – The city of Augusta in Maine’s asbestos-plagued Kennebec County is one of a half dozen cities in the state that will receive a generous portion of a $6.1-million EPA asbestos cleanup grant to remove asbestos and other pollutants, says a Weitz & Luxenberg lawyer.

The cities of Bath and Lewiston are also receiving grants, as are the towns of Howland, Orono and Windham. The Bath Iron Works shipyard, located on the Kennecbec River, used significant amounts of asbestos ever since the yard was built in 1826. Maine shipyards, like all shipyards, are notorious for exposing workers to asbestos materials. The environmental grants are part of the massive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that the Obama Administration signed into law in February.

Kennebec County residents risk asbestos disease

Kennebec County is the fourth 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.

Some 50 Kennebec County residents died from asbestos exposure between 1979 and 2001, according to the study, which emphasized that this mortality figure may only represent 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 Kennebec County, as airborne asbestos particles continue to pose a serious health threat. Once inhaled, asbestos particles can become permanently lodged in the lining of the lungs and lead to fatal diseases, including lung cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma.

Weitz & Luxenberg – Champion to the working class

The personal injury law firm of Weitz & Luxenberg 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!