During the recent high winds, the containment around the Pen Ply stack was damaged. The Port does not believe there was public exposure to asbestos as a result of the containment breach around the stack. The material being removed is a non-friable asbestos-containing coating – meaning it does not readily get into the air. It is standard practice at the end of each work shift for the contractor to inspect the work area and ensure that asbestos-containing debris is cleaned up and bagged for disposal. The contractor completed the workweek on Thursday and checked to make sure all debris was properly packaged and the special air machines equipped with HEPA filters were running prior to leaving the site. The air filtration machines complete at least four air exchanges per hour so if any asbestos fibers were in the air in the containment, they would have been filtered out prior to the containment breach on Saturday.
Currently, the contractor is working to re-seal the enclosure and the Port’s independent air monitoring firm is reviewing air sample data from Thursday prior to the windstorm which was the last day of asbestos removal for the week.