Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 18, Number 8, 1 August 2001 — Asbestos alert [ARTICLE]

Asbestos alert

This is in response to Mr. Leidmann's article, "Building Greener Homes - Island industry embraces environmental!y friendly construction." Under "waste materials ean be recycled." the demolition of Moanalua Terrace Naval Housing where majestic, beneficial trees were uprooted, where 45,000 tons of concrete were crushed on site

and used as construction bedding and backfill for utilities, sewers and storm drains." Not included in the list about "What they did with it" was how many tons of asbestos was removed from the concrete flooring? Yellow tape with "Danger Asbestos" printed in red letters surrounded eaeh of the remaining third of the 516 units. Windows, doors and any cracks were sealed with plastic and taped shut. I asked a worker plastering a window outside, "What Brah, da asbestos stay on the ceiling?" He replied, "No Brah, stay on da floor." Then I saw workers in white spacesuits, working inside on the floors. Just imagine your baby crawling on an asbestos floor, for all those years. It only takes one, tiny airborne asbestos particle, a carcinogen, to cause cancer later in life. I live next to the naval housing and now I question why my sister contracted breast cancer. I question the federal government and wonder if all those military families and others were informed and monitored? George Kahumoku Flores Aliamanu