Plenty has already been written including by me about the rapid destruction of the East Wing of our White House. In a matter of days, not even a week from the time the demotion equipment started tearing at a structure that had seen so much history until nothing was left but bare dirt covering the bunker deep underground was intended to happen fast, before anyone could stop it. Clouds of particles and dust filled the air both at the demolition site itself, and drifting into the air over the fences. Those particles almost certainly contained ASBESTOS.
I’ll admit when I wrote about the destruction last week it took someone commenting on my article to raise the question of asbestos exposure from the demolition work. I thanked them for pointing out something I should have thought of and included in that article. Now, as this article from The Washington Post tells us others, including the right people are raising questions. And, as you’d expect Team Trump is refusing to answer them.
The more I think about it the more I’m convinced Team Trump knew there was a problem, and realized that due to the shutdown what Congress Critters were in town would be focused on the shutdown. Sadly, tragically even they were proven correct. Kind of interesting that Trumpty himself beat feat out of town on an international trip so the dust could literally settle! Well, that doesn’t mean an attempt can’t be made to provide some accountability to Trump and others:
It’s too late to stop the exposure to a dangerous material people have certainly breathed in, but not too late to start raising hell and demanding accountability. At least one Senator is being joined by groups that know this subject to ask some questions that should have been asked as soon as the demolition started:
White House officials have said work to abate hazardous materials at the site was performed last month but have so far not provided documentation of what contractors did to mitigate risks associated with the material, which was widely used in building projects at the time of the East Wing’s 1902 construction and 1942 renovation.
“Construction workers on the East Wing site, nearby office workers and tourists, and passersby could now be at heightened risk of developing lung cancer, asbestosis, or mesothelioma from the inhalation of demolition dust,” Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts) wrote in a letter Thursday to ACECO, the contractor handling demolition of the White House annex.
There are two things in that which jumped out at me when I read the WaPo article. First was that from the minimal WH response they claim asbestos ‘mitigation’ was performed last month. Given what you’ve already read and looking at the title picture like me you should be calling bullshit. Given the size of what used to be the East Wing, all the people working in it and all the visitors coming and going right up to the day the destruction began there’s no way in hell the job could have been done in a month.
Second and more importantly is without meaning to Team Trump confessed to knowing they had a problem they’d have to literally bulldoze their way past before anyone caught on. They KNEW taking the time to do proper asbestos abatement would allow time for opponents of either the destruction (which we all feared in not assumed would take place) of the East Wing or building of his BTAB (Big Tacky Ass Ballroom) would get stopped cold while the whole matter played out in court. In DC which is NOT Trump friendly territory. Even SCOTUS, probably fearing he’d at some point destroy THEIR historic building for not giving him his way 100 percent would have blocked any demolition of the used to be existing East Wing.
Alas, like a magician Trump engaged in misdirection with his vanity ballroom project. Journalists and Congress Critters had tunnel vision and since we don’t see big asbestos abatement projects even in local, much less national news anymore people (including me) plum forgot to consider this particular structure likely needed some serious work before any demolition began.
One has to consider when the East Wing as we came to know it was remodeled into the form we knew. It was during WWII and a military project as the renovation, which involved expanding the modest structure that had originally built as a cloakroom, then added to a bit was turned into a substantial two story office building to house people working on the war effort. Asbestos had long been widely used in construction but it was particularly so with military construction. It was cheap and effective both for insulation and for fire resistance.
Military housing and new office spaces on bases, and especially ships and airplanes were full of the stuff. So was the Pentagon and the version of the East Wing built in 1942. Like the Pentagon it went up incredibly fast. And as for asbestos itself no one knew at the time how deadly it was. Hell, it made for perfect simulated snow in movies! Even The Wizard of Oz. There’s no telling how many people died from lung disease (including a cancer known as mesothelioma) due to all the decades of wide use of asbestos. But eventually the dangers became known, and lawsuits got at least some people or their surviving heirs some restitution. It also created an entire industry of Asbestos Abatement, going through old buildings searching for it, and when found CAREFULLY removing it.
It’s a tedious, exacting and expensive process. And dangerous both to the workers and anyone nearby. If you’ve even been in a building where asbestos abatement has been done as it was going on you know how carefully the work areas are sealed off. It’s dangerous enough that before taking off their suits and masks workers are ‘decontaminated’ prior to changing out of that protective wear to prevent particles on it from getting into the air and being inhaled!. My point is that it’s impossible to hide when proper asbestos abatement work is taking place unless it’s in some secure building tucked away on some military/government base with strictly controlled access to the base/area itself.
Does that sound like the East Wing? The place where not only VIPs arrive (you saw Presidents greet visiting Head of State and other important people under that stately Portico countless times) but almost all visitors to the White House arrived including members of the public there to start their standard White House Tours. Then of course there’s all the office space including since Carter’s Presidency a suite of offices for the First Lady. But plenty of other office space was there too, and journalists would be roaming around. It’s hard to imagine sealing off parts for asbestos abatement which itself takes time would have gone unnoticed. Even a WH Press Corps cowed by Trump surely would have said something to somebody. Not to mention civil service workers noting it.
All that mattered to Trump is ‘someone’ told him he (to paraphrase a famous movie line) ‘didn’t need no stinking permission’ and from that point on zoning, planning commissions and even laws didn’t matter to him. He was going to knock that sucker (the East Wing) down and replace it with a gawdy, gilded imitation of some palace from across the Atlantic. The one in Russia and the once in France he so admires led to Revolutions that overthrew the leaders. Even in merry olde ye England the Monarchy was stripped of most of it’s powers to be replaced by a more representative form of government but at least they were allowed to survive and keep the bulk of their castles and estates although some has been made available for public/government use. Anyway Trump wasn’t about to put up with doing, or at least trying to do things they way custom and statute says they should be done:
The White House has declined to identify all of the companies working on the East Wing demolition and ballroom project. It also has not released documentation of any inspections or other work performed at the East Wing before it was torn down.
“A very extensive abatement and remediation assessment was followed, complying with all applicable federal standards,” a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the construction said in a statement.
Public Health advocates are among those who disagree:
“Federal law requires comprehensive asbestos inspection, notification, and abatement before any demolition,” the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, a nonprofit focused on preventing asbestos exposure, wrote to the White House last week. “As of this date, no publicly available information demonstrates that these statutory obligations have been fulfilled.”
The Director of the organization just cited made the comment that a lack of response actually IS a response. I wonder if moving forward continuing stonewalling will lead to pointed questions along the lines of “By refusing to provide information aren’t you actually confirmed you ignored the law and needlessly exposed people to cancer causing material?” I doubt the WH Press Corps has enough members with guts to keep hammering this point but one can always hope. With apologies for getting so deep in the weeds I also want to make note of this from the linked article (which you should read before it goes behind the paywall):
D.C.’s asbestos abatement process requires licensed contractors to notify the Department of Energy and Environment online at least 10 working days before work begins to receive the necessary permit. Permits are both date- and site-specific. The 10-workday window is waved for “bona fide emergencies,” according to the department’s website. Notices of asbestos abatement work must be posted outside all entrances and exits from the work site at least three days before work begins — except in emergency situations.
Asbestos workers and supervisors also need a valid asbestos abatement license issued by the D.C. Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection.
Trump of course simply won’t be bothered by such ‘details.’ He realized there was a way he could get away with his ‘screw it, I’m going to do what I want’ attitude and blew off tradition, history, common practice for historic building and worse the literal health and safety of an awful lot of people. As I said Team Trump is tight lipped about any specifics like who carried out what amount of asbestos assessment and removal work. It certainly wasn’t ACECO, the company which tore down all that history
I wrote last week about ACECO, the company that did the destruction work. Before they disabled their website they billed themselves as the leading contractor in the DC area for demolition work. And they have been involved in some big projects including at govt. facilities. The backlash has caused them to ‘go silent’, not just disabling the website but their CEO and if I’m not mistaken others too removing their profiles from places like LinkedIn. Here’s where the rubber really meets the road. A major demolition company would you assume have a department that deals with asbestos abatement. ACECO used to have one but not anymore! If, or rather when they find themselves in court on personal injury claims from workers they won’t be able to claim ‘Gee, we had NO idea asbestos was dangerous or that it might be in old buildings in the DC area we’ve worked on.’
What I find more sinister is that from the time Trump announced this ballroom monstrosity back in July he didn’t just plan, despite glib promises to the contrary to rip down the whole East Wing to make way for it. More importantly after a career in real estate which involved some construction projects including tearing down old buildings (like he did on the site where Trump Tower sits) he knew damned well about asbestos. Oh, don’t forget all those old run-down buildings that made up his dad’s rental empire! I say he had a pal ready to do the deed and a verbal contract was made. I also say the issue of asbestos was discussed and a decision was made to try some CYA:
Markey on Thursday asked ACECO to provide proof that workers surveyed the East Wing for asbestos and removed it if found, monitored the air quality at the construction site and took other steps to comply with asbestos-related requirements.
“ACECO owes Congress and the public a full accounting of its involvement in the East Wing demolition and its level of adherence to federal health and safety standards,” Markey wrote.
ACECO did not respond to questions about whether workers followed asbestos safety requirements at its demolition site. A D.C. government official said that ACECO is not licensed to abate asbestos.
“Our understanding is that as of August 18, 2022, Aceco LLC is no longer engaged in asbestos abatement services,” a Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection spokesperson told The Post. “The company’s asbestos abatement license in the District of Columbia was voluntarily canceled by the owner on that date.”
I wonder if it’s dawned on ACECO workers yet that they’ve been screwed, and that eventually some of them will come down with Mesothelioma or another awful lung disease and f**king DIE. And more importantly that their boss knew what would happen and tried to hide the fact he knew it by getting out of the remediation business. Turnover in construction work is high and despite law firm commercials you see on TV how many workers at ACECO had actually taken part in or knew someone in the company’s asbestos abatement group that had done a project in recent times. By getting out of that line of work back in mid=August I can see how the average “demo worker” would think asbestos wasn’t something to worry about anymore. That if it was their company wouldn’t have gotten out of the business of removing it!
This could blow up into a much larger story. As far as I’m concerned the ignoring of laws and statutes governing not just treatment of historic landmarks but public health rise to the level of High Crimes and Misdemeanors. You might not agree and that’s fine. Still, someday people, not just construction workers but folks who passed by the site on a sidewalk or in a vehicle with the windows down will DIE because they breathed in asbestos particles. At best that’s negligent homicide although in my book if there was a crime called “It don’t want to follow an effective, well-purposed law and DON’T CARE how many DIE so I could have my way’ would be the appropriate charge.
************************************
Friends, if you can help us with a small donation or an ad-free subscription, it would be appreciated. We are attempting to get through a year of depressed traffic and make it to 2026, where the grass will hopefully be greener due to the midterms. Thank you. Ursula
I think he’s proved time and time again that he’s not worried if his actions and dictates prove fatal to what he sees as mere underlings -he even seems to see it as a bonus for him.
But it is interesting that he’s taken this time to be well out of the White House and in other countries over this time. It’s almost like he’s aware that it’s not safe there.
Your “… a lack of response actually IS a response …” rings true, as to the circumstances, equally silence can mean agreement. The individual and collective responses cloaked in silenced glib wrappings is proof positive of reckless and deleterious work health and safety risk management practices. Practices that do not, by the looks of it, pays no respect to human life and costs from ignoring what is known, or should be known, about exposure to asbestos. It seems, this teardown has been strategically undertaken during the distractive kerfuffle of the government shutdown. This is all evidence pointing to a deliberate criminal planning and strategy, and hazardous work undertaking and activity.
Your last sentence is why I included “High Crimes and Misdemeanors’ in the article. This was a planned crime. Against both property and people. The Roberts Court immunity ruling will allow Trump to avoid criminal liability. And since mesothelioma takes a while to manifest he’ll be dead and gone so any civil suit/judgement would have to come from his estate which he of course won’t care about.
However even though not enough Republicans in the Senate would do the right thing a third impeachment in which this would be one of the Articles would drive Trump batshit insane. Hey, if there’s a Blue Wave even with all the cheating the GOP will do prior to the midterms who knows? Senate Republicans just might say enough is enough, even the hard core ones who are already upset Team Trump’s incompetence has slowed down implementing Project 2025. They just might decide two years of Vance might result in a lot more progress on that particular goal. That instead of being a useful idiot tool, Trump is instead what we’re seeing – a useless IMPEDIMENT to the agenda.
Thanks Denis for this additional clarifying feedback. Got it now with the terminology.