Board upholds fine in asbestos removal case

Friday, April 14, 2000 | 11:22 a.m.

An air pollution review board refused to grant an appeal Thursday from a contractor who botched an asbestos removal job at a former public housing complex and received the largest pollution fine in Clark County history.

Desert Environmental Inc. owner Michael Carbaugh pleaded with Clark County Health District staff in a telephone call on Wednesday from "somewhere in Kansas" to delay Thursday's hearing that was set on Jan. 10. He did not leave a phone number, a fax number or an address during the call.

In October Carbaugh and his company were fined $279,500 for failing to remove asbestos from the former Sierra Nevada Arms Apartments built in West Las Vegas in 1968.

Carbaugh appealed the penalty to the Air Pollution Control Hearing Board on Nov. 18. He received four written notices of Thursday's hearing. Three could not be delivered because he left no forwarding address. The secretary of state's office has listed the company as defunct.

About 4:20 p.m. on Wednesday, Health District staff received a handwritten note by fax from Carbaugh without an explanation for his absence. He asked that all correspondence on his case go to Las Vegas attorney Jerome De Palma.

"I do not represent Mr. Carbaugh at this time," De Palma told the Health District.

Board Vice-Chairman Jack Greco urged the board to refuse Carbaugh's appeal, noting the 10 violations for failing to remove asbestos, in some cases leaving it on the ground in piles 15 feet wide and 2 feet deep, "are very serious."

Asbestos, once used for insulation and fire protection, is classified as a known human carcinogen by state, federal and international agencies. Floating in the air, it poses a serious health threat to the lungs, chest and abdominal cavity.

Board member Scott Wade sympathized with Carbaugh and urged his colleagues to extend the appeal to a later date.

But member Thomas Hamilton moved to dismiss the appeal. "This man is somewhere between utterly stupid and ignorant," he said. Hamilton noted that Carbaugh had delayed his case with the Health District almost two years.

The board voted 3-1 to dismiss the appeal with Wade the lone vote against it. Carbaugh could next take his case to U.S. District Court, Health District attorney Stephen Minagil said.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. attorney's office in Las Vegas refused on Thursday to either confirm or deny a criminal investigation into the company or Carbaugh for the asbestos violation.

The apartments containing asbestos that Carbaugh was hired to clean up were located at West Holly Avenue and North Simmons Street with new homes and townhouses surrounding the nearby site.

The Health District worked for more than a year to complete its investigation into the environmental violations regarding the asbestos after two unannounced inspections in July 1998, Air Pollution Control Director Michael Naylor said. Citizens called the health district to complain about the improper asbestos removal.

"We consider it worse than the Landmark," Naylor said after the hearing, referring to a $52,000 fine of Central Environmental Inc., the crew that cleaned up the former Landmark Hotel on Paradise Road and Convention Center Drive. Subcontractor Ab-Haz Environmental was fined $18,000 in the settlement.

Last year the health district settled an $80,000 penalty with Sierra Nevada Arms consultant CT&E Environmental Services Inc., the second-largest fine imposed for asbestos violations. CT&E and Carbaugh were hired by Southwest Paving and Grading, Inc. in June 1998 to consult and remove the asbestos.

The former Sierra Nevada apartments were built in 1968 by U.S. Housing and Urban Development and ranked as one of the 10 worst HUD housing projects in the nation in 1994. Federal inspectors discovered raw sewage flowing near children's play areas and broken glass and other debris throughout the complex.

The apartments were sold for $1 by HUD to Shepherd Hills Development Corp. in 1997.

Shepherd Hills, in an agreement with HUD, received $448,000 in federal funds to get rid of the dilapidated buildings. Once the old apartments were cleared, Shepherd Hills was expected to build townhouses and condominiums on the site.

Instead, funding shortages and the asbestos removal case have delayed the project.

Mary Manning covers environmental issues for the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached by phone: (702) 259-4065 or by e-mail: manning@lasvegassun.com