3 days ago
Man says company's asbestos removal from Illinois house was improper and incomplete, and state can't help
You have likely seen the ads on CBS Chicago — lawyers looking for cancer patients who are deathly ill because of asbestos.
A viewer reached out to CBS News Chicago, afraid he would get sick. He has been through a tangle with asbestos, and he ran into to a loophole in state policy that could leave anyone vulnerable.
When Michael Flores purchased a more-than-century-old house in Ottawa, Illinois, it was supposed to be a vacation rental — a peaceful oasis by Starved Rock State Park.
But it went from charming to alarming.
Flores knew that asbestos lingered at the top of the house. It was insulated with vermiculite, a gavel-like insulation material that is known to contain asbestos.
Flores also knew he would have to fork over several thousand dollars to remove the dangerous material before rehabbing the house.
Only after that could families book the house as their lodging for getaways.
"We just don't want to put people at risk," Flores said.
Flores paid nearly $20,000 to have the material removed. He thought he had put the asbestos concerns to bed, but there were still piles of vermiculite left behind after the work was done.
"Did I just get scammed?" Flores said. "Like, why did I pay $20,000 and there's still all this asbestos up there?"
Flores took videos showing piles of asbestos-containing material still in the attic after hiring Clean Air Asbestos and Mold Control LLC to have it removed. The Aurora, Illinois-based company's owner insisted his $18,758.25 job for removal of asbestos was completed.
"I was like, no, that's impossible," said Flores.
So Flores decided to get another opinion from a different contractor — who said with the remaining asbestos, the attic was still dangerous "for anyone to be here working."
Shock and anger followed.
It cost Flores another $8,000 for that second company to clear what was left behind — as he fought for that nearly $20,000 refund from Clean Air Asbestos and Mold Control.
Meanwhile, he got curious and looked at footage of the Clean Air workers from a driveway camera on the garage.
"I saw workers without protective gear on, with not proper facemasks on," he said.
The footage also showed a bag spewing dust into the air — particles that more than likely contained asbestos.
"That made me investigate further because I'm like, well that's not right," Flores said.
So Flores emailed the manufacturer of a vacuum used for the job — asking if the equipment was appropriate for sucking up asbestos.
An email in reply from Wm. W. Meyer & Sons Inc. said, "The Versa-Vac and bags are not intended for asbestos removal. They are only made for insulation removal and do get very dusty during use."
Flores sent that information, surveillance footage taken from the driveway camera, and one of the videos of the attic to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Internal emails between state employees said, "I knew something was wrong," and "I guess he was truthful with his answers, but the pictures and videos indicate he stretched the truth A LOT!" — referring to the owner of Clean Air Asbestos and Mold Control.
But the IDPH staff also said the department had "no authority since it was a single family home."
It turned out Illinois requires licenses for asbestos work in commercial, public, and large residential buildings. But there is no license mandated for asbestos removal in houses.
That means Clean Air Asbestos and Mold Control remains on the IDPH approve list, and the state's hands are tied from taking any action against the company if warranted.
"It just seems strange that it's like almost impossible to hold a company accountable for something that could potentially kill people," Flores said.
CBS News Chicago wondered just how strange Illinois asbestos regulations are. All 50 states were asked about their rules, and about half responded — with answers that were all over the place.
Most interestingly, seven states — Maine, Maryland, New York, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia — mandate a license for anyone to remove asbestos from anywhere. This includes office buildings, schools, and houses too.
But nine states — Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas — have limited policies. People who clear out asbestos in those states have to follow strict rules, but those rules and the consequences for violating them are not in play if the removal happens at a single-family home.
"That sounds like a loophole in regulations that is totally inappropriate," said Dr. Arthur Frank, an environmental and occupational health professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
Frank has researched asbestos for more than 50 years.
"It doesn't matter if it's a household or a commercial entity, or anyplace else. If there's asbestos, you need to remove it properly and safely, and somebody ought to be regulating it," said Frank. "As little as one day of exposure has given some people and some animals mesotheliomas."
Mesotheliomas are cancers.
It was last year when Flores shared with CBS News Chicago the cellphone videos of his attic with vermiculite still visible after the first asbestos treatment. But when CBS News Chicago started to investigate, Flores received a cease-and-desist letter from an attorney for Clean Air Asbestos and Mold Control.
Nervous, Flores canceled our interview. But he said he feels comfortable coming forward now.
"I think it would be really great for there to be some kind of governmental changes to kind of regulate better," he said.
Flores is suing Clean Air Asbestos and Mold Control. The company declined an interview through its attorney, who "categorically denies" all allegations of wrongdoing.
