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December 16, 2013
Jefferson Parish, Louisiana - In the aftermath of a discovery of asbestos in March, 2012, Jefferson Parish has spent a total of $576,985. Most recently, the Jefferson Parish Council awarded a $163,500 contract on December 11 to remediate the estimated 6,000 tons of contaminated soil. The asbestos was found by a contractor in soil donated to the parish by the Army Corps of Engineers, from fill at the site of a Justice Canal and Oil Co. Canal project. The free soil was spread on the outskirts of the Churchill Technology & Business Park, a 90-acre site run by the Jefferson Economic Development Commission (JEDCO).
According to public works director Kazem Alikhani, the parish would have been responsible whether the asbestos was discovered at the initial corps job site or at the Churchill Technology & Business Park. Alikhanki estimates the remediation, which is currently using excess fill from the Harahan “pump to the river" project, has another three months before it is complete.
The remediation is complicated by the fact that the soil had been spread, making it difficult to locate all of the contamination. “We followed protocol in place, to make sure everything was done properly,” says Rachel Calico, the Corps program manager for the Justice Canal and Oil Co. Canal project. The asbestos was immediately watered and contained according to procedure.
Asbestos exposure is the leading cause of mesothelioma, an aggressive and unforgiving cancer that affects the lungs’ protective lining in the chest cavity. Asbestos was widely used in a variety of industrial settings until its hazardous nature was discovered in the mid-twentieth century. Today, the harmfulness of asbestos exposure is well known; however, due to mesothelioma’s long latency period, there are between 2,500 and 3,000 new cases each year.
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