§2644 Requirements If Epa Fails to Promulgate Regulations

Summary

If the EPA does not create the required asbestos rules on time, or if a court blocks those rules for more than 30 days, each local educational agency must follow the EPA’s most current guidance for inspecting, responding to, and handling asbestos. Those duties stay in effect until the EPA issues the rules or the court lift the stay. Within 540 days after October 22, 1986, each agency must inspect every school building for asbestos using accredited inspectors and labs (unless a qualifying earlier inspection already exists). Within 720 days they must start an operation and maintenance plan to protect staff around friable asbestos. They must write a management plan and send it to the Governor within 810 days, begin putting it into action within 990 days, and finish implementation promptly. The plan must include an inspection statement (dates, who inspected and their qualifications, areas checked, labs used and results, and details if any actions were taken), warning labels, and meet EPA guidance and cleanup standards. After work, indoor asbestos levels must not exceed outdoor levels (measured by scanning or transmission electron microscope); if no reliable outdoor measure exists, assume outdoor is <0.003 fibers/cm3 for SEM and <0.005 fibers/cm3 for TEM. The plan must be available at the agency office and parents, teachers, and employees must be told it exists. Agencies must protect building occupants during all work and follow the EPA’s “Asbestos Waste Management Guidance” (or its successor) for transport and disposal.