Asbestos contractor gets warning

ASW Associates Inc., a Remediation firm that was contracted to cleanup asbestos-contaminated sites for the Libby Superfund project, has been told it will lose its contract if things don’t improve.

The Volpe Center, which is the contracting firm that hired ASW, would not comment on the company’s performance during cleanup. But representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week told Lincoln County commissioners they were clearly frustrated with the company for its slow performances, and initial safety and health concerns that resulted in a shutdown for several days.

“They have 10 days to show us how they are going to fix the problem,” said Paul Peronard, on-site coordinator for EPA.

The company was issued a formal “cure” notice, which gives it time to address problems in their remediation project.

A task order that they had originally been awarded was given to ER, the next lowest bidder. ER is also doing cleanups in Libby. Task orders are valued at $1 million.

Current problems are associated with ASW’s first task order, while ER has previously worked in Libby at a 90 percent satisfactory rate, according to Peronard.