Trash firm charged in asbestos incident

Silver State Disposal Service, Inc. faces $20,000 in air pollution fines for alleged violations in labeling, handling, shipping and disposing of debris containing asbestos, a fiber that causes lung disease.

Air Pollution Control Hearing Officer Judith Schill has set a hearing for the two violations at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Clark County Health District's Air Pollution Annex, 625 Shadow Lane.

Silver State, listed as Republic Silver State Disposal Service, Inc., and Republic DUMPCo, Inc. in the complaints, has contested the violations, said Harold Glasser, enforcement supervisor for the Clark County Health District's Air Pollution Control Division.

A Health District investigator discovered debris containing asbestos in a dumpster located at the Village Shopping Center, West Charleston and Decatur boulevards, on May 2. The inspector called Silver State, which sent a disposal team to examine the box.

Glasser said the dumpster was secured by a safety hold for proper disposal. Yet the asbestos mixed with other wastes went to the dump.

"The contents of the dumpster were removed after Silver State put a hold on it," he said.

The waste materials were mixed into other refuse and disposed into the municipal Apex landfill, about 15 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

Asbestos fibers are harmful if inhaled, Glasser said. Cancer or the lung disease asbestosis may result after exposure to the odorless and invisible fibers. Asbestos was once used in brake linings and insulation. A strand of hair is 1,200 times wider than an asbestos fiber.

Silver State attorney Robert Groesbeck said the dumpster was not labeled as containing asbestos, so it was taken to the municipal landfill for disposal.

While Silver State and its subsidiary Environmental Technologies, Inc., are licensed to remove asbestos, the shopping center's load went to the Apex landfill for domestic garbage. Asbestos is a regulated hazardous waste and must be buried in a separate, contained cell, Groesbeck said.

Groesbeck said neither the property owner nor the site contractor have been cited by the Health District. "We're only the hauler," he said. "We're going to make our case, and we are confident we will prevail."

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