§3606 Standards and Safety Procedures

Summary

Within 120 days after the Task Force’s first meeting, the Secretary must give the State agency under section 3603(a)(4) procedures for testing asbestos in schools (with safety steps), standards for deciding how likely asbestos is to leak into school spaces from those tests, and rules for which contractors are qualified to do the testing and evaluation. After consulting the Task Force, the Secretary must also set loan-eligibility criteria under section 3605 based on the assessed health hazard using those leakage standards. After reviewing recommendations sent under section 3602(e)(5) and with the Task Force’s agreement, the Secretary must make regulations that tell local school systems in loan programs how to contain and remove asbestos, replace removed materials with suitable building materials, and restore buildings to their prior condition. The regulations must also set contractor qualifications. The Secretary must avoid duplicating similar Environmental Protection Agency activities whenever possible.