Environmental Report Delays Renovation Project in Missouri

St. Louis officials planned to demolish an old jail to make room for a new animal shelter. Those plans are now on hold.

Work on the Hall Street location was initially slated to begin in December 2024. However, a spokesman said the city learned it would have to do more to mitigate the risks posed by lead and asbestos in the building during demolition. That finding pushes the start date to at least early 2025.

In addition to demolition, the first phase of the project includes the design and installation of a memorial at the site in the city’s North Riverfront neighborhood.

A second phase of development at the site will be unveiled next year. Initial plans include an animal shelter and relocation of some of the city’s towing operations. Those uses align with a report by community members that suggested a variety of options like sheltering animals, prairie restoration, solar power, and industry.

Almost all commercial and residential structures built before 1980 contain asbestos, and not just in attic insulation. Builders also used asbestos in:

• Pipe wrapping,
• Floor tiles,
• Drywall,
• Roof tiles,
• Concrete,
• Ceiling tiles, and
• Electrical insulation.

Builders often extensively used asbestos at the behest of insurance companies. Fire and smoke damage, along with the water damage that fires usually cause, are among the most expensive and most preventable homeowners insurance claims.

The extensive asbestos use created a generation of asbestos exposure victims. Asbestos use was widespread, and the victims were widespread as well.

• Direct Occupational: Construction workers, along with shipbuilders and many manufacturing workers, handled asbestos-laced products, often while wearing little or no PPE (personal protective equipment). Companies discourage PPE use to perpetuate the asbestos-is-safe lie.
• Indirect Occupational: Microscopic asbestos fibers float through the air for hours or days before they come to rest on a surface. They often floated into workplace common areas, such as cafeterias and parking lots. Additionally, the facilities themselves were usually laced with asbestos. The dust leaked through hairline cracks in walls.
• Direct Ambient (Environmental): For many years, take-home asbestos poisoning was the largest ambient exposure category. When asbestos fibers settled on a worker’s clothes, and a housewife washed those clothes, the housewife inhaled toxic fibers. Scientists believe the true number of direct ambient victims may stagger the imagination.
• Indirect Ambient: In years to come, environmental and indirect use victims may become the largest category of asbestos exposure victims. Environmental and man-made disasters, such as 9/11, spread asbestos fibers for many miles. The Twin Towers, which were built before 1980, were packed with asbestos. Daily use of asbestos-laced talcum powder may be the largest indirect use category.

All kinds of asbestos exposure cause mesothelioma and other diseases. A nationwide asbestos exposure lawyer can obtain substantial compensation for these victims.

The asbestos that lurks in old buildings is harmless, even if the insulation or other asbestos completely breaks up unless someone disturbs the asbestos. Frequently, that someone is a renovation or demolition worker.

Property owners could be legally responsible for the aforementioned damages in these asbestos exposure matters. The asbestos abatement process is the only way to avoid potential liability.

In renovation or demolition situations, property owners must usually skip the air testing phase and move directly to the asbestos removal phase if the structure was built prior to 1980. A professional contractor must locate and remove asbestos. This substance is so dangerous that it’s not fit for a weekend DIY project.

Next, a contractor must destroy the asbestos. This step is no easy task. Fireproof asbestos isn’t easily incinerated.

Even if property owners complete the remediation process, asbestos poisoning victims are usually still entitled to compensation. If renovation or demolition workers are exposed to asbestos, a nationwide asbestos exposure lawyer usually files a civil claim against the asbestos manufacturer.

Mesothelioma victims need and deserve significant compensation. For a confidential consultation with an experienced nationwide mesothelioma lawyer, contact the Throneberry Law Group. We routinely handle these matters nationwide.