§2644 Requirements If Epa Fails to Promulgate Regulations

Summary

If the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not create the required asbestos rules in the time given, or if the rules it did create are blocked by a court for more than 30 days, local school districts must follow the EPA’s most current guidance and keep doing so until the rules are made or the court lift the block. Each school district must do several things on set timelines measured from October 22, 1986. Within 540 days they must inspect every school building for asbestos using accredited inspectors and accredited labs (a building is exempt if it was already inspected before that date and the older inspection meets these rules). Within 720 days they must make and start an operation-and-maintenance plan for loose or crumbly asbestos and train maintenance staff about safety. Within 810 days they must write a management plan and send it to the Governor. They must begin using that plan within 990 days and finish putting it into effect in a timely way. The management plan must include an inspection statement (dates, names and qualifications of inspectors, areas checked, labs used and results, and details if any asbestos work was done), warning labels, follow EPA guidance, meet the air-quality standard described below, and be available in the district office for public review with notice to parent, teacher, and employee groups. After cleanup or other actions, indoor asbestos levels must not exceed outdoor background levels; testing must use either a scanning electron microscope (SEM) or transmission electron microscope (TEM). If no good outdoor measurements exist, the outdoor level is treated as less than 0.003 fibers/cc for SEM and less than 0.005 fibers/cc for TEM. Districts must protect building occupants during every phase and must transport and dispose of asbestos following the EPA’s current Asbestos Waste Management Guidance.