Project digs up repeat asbestos trouble

BLOOMFIELD, N.M. (KRQE) - When it comes to asbestos, contractors working in this city of about 8,000 people near Farmington just can’t seem to get it right.

Four years ago, a Santa Fe-based paving company pulverized asbestos pipe in a residential neighborhood of Bloomfield and spread it all over town .

Now, this spring and summer, contractors working on a highway expansion project illegally disposed of the cancer-causing substance not once but twice, according to the New Mexico Environment Department.

“I was disappointed,” said Benny Kling, an NMED inspector and Bloomfield resident. “Very disappointed. I think everyone wasn’t communicating and paying attention.”

Advantage Asphalt of Santa Fe started the trend in 2008.

The company had been hired by the city of Bloomfield to improve the roads in some of the city’s neighborhoods. During the construction, Advantage workers dug up a 400-foot section of asbestos pipe, broke it up with hammers and other tools on a residential street and dumped it throughout town including at a Dumpster at Bloomfield High School.

The mayor at the time told KRQE News 13 that the city never told residents about the incident because it feared lawsuits. The Environment Department later fined the company more than $800,000.

Fast-forward to April 24 of this year.

That’s when contractors working on the expansion of U.S. Highway 64 unearthed 400 cubic yards of petroleum-contaminated soil and asbestos pipe from the middle of Bloomfield.

Envirotech, a local company that disposes of dangerous materials, then transported the 20 semi-truck loads 13 miles south of Bloomfield to a large area called a “landfarm,” where the company cleans petroleum from soil, according to Kling’s report on the incident.

The company then dumped the asbestos and soil on the ground out in the open, the report states.

Asbestos is not allowed to be disposed of at the landfarm. In fact, it must be carefully wrapped in plastic and taken to specially-licensed facilities for disposal.

“They haven’t really explained how it happened,” Kling said. “I had difficulty understanding how 20 loads would have been taken there without oversight.”

Envirotech supervisor Donald Ortiz blamed the mess on Sterling Brothers Construction, the main contractor on the N.M. 64 project, and said no one told Envirotech there was asbestos in the dirt.

However, a May 22 memo from Envirotech to Sterling Brothers obtained by News 13 directly contradicts that claim. It states that two Envirotech employees – an environmental manager and a senior field technician – were on scene at the road project April 24 not only screening the soil but taking samples as well.

“Nobody was minding the store,” Kling said.

Ortiz called the Environment Department on April 25 and reported the violation, according to Kling’s report. Envirotech then cleaned up the soil and asbestos and took it to a licensed asbestos facility in Hovenweep, Utah, the report states.

During a meeting with Sterling Brothers and Envirotech after the April incident, Kling said he issued a warning to the companies.

“I’m gonna be there watching,” Kling said he told them.

Kling thought that would be enough to stop any more monkey business. It wasn’t.

Less than three months later it happened again.

On Saturday, July 7, Kling said he was headed through the construction zone on a personal errand.

“I had my wife and our two dogs to be groomed,” he said. “And we drove through town and I seen these several piles of dirt stacked along the side of the highway -- asbestos pipe broken and scattered all over.”

The next day, Kling went back to the site, photographed the debris and took samples.

“Monday morning, early, I got up, drove down to the site, parked about 200 feet away,” he said. “As I watched (I) photographed loaders loading the piles along with the asbestos pipe into Sterling Brothers trucks.”

Kling then followed the truck through Bloomfield to the Sterling Brothers construction yard on Church Street in town. He watched as the dangerous load was dumped on the ground behind the construction trailer office, he said.

News 13 was able to photograph the asbestos debris during a visit to the construction yard earlier this month.

“They knew better,” Kling said. “They knew better.”

Cathy Sterling, the owner of Sterling Brothers Construction, declined to speak to News 13.

The New Mexico Department of Transportation is ultimately responsible for the U.S. 64 project. News 13 attempted to get some answers from DOT officials, but it turned out they still aren’t exactly sure what happened.

“I’m not fully aware of the April incident,” said Miguel Gabaldón, DOT District 5 engineer. “I do know of a July matter.”

News 13 asked Gabaldón if he was concerned with his contractors’ competence and ethics.

“I haven’t spoken to anybody at this time to get how serious it was, so I can’t answer that at this time,” he said.

Bloomfield City Manager David Fuqua said he’s not quite sure what to think.

“I can’t speak for what they’re doing,”