Asbestos testing delays cleanup months after fire destroys Colorado shopping center
Months after a devastating fire destroyed 18 businesses at the Caribou Village Shopping Center in Colorado's Nederland community, the cleanup of the building remains in limbo.
The property owners, Tebo Properties, say the delays are due to bureaucratic red tape, but the state's health department says they're requesting tests that comply with the law. This back and forth has left the town's shopping center in rubble for months.
State regulations require any building to be tested for asbestos before it is demolished, including those that burned down. If a building cannot be sufficiently tested for asbestos, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) states that state and federal regulations require it to be cleaned up as if asbestos were present. A spokesperson for Tebo Properties, Bill Rigler, calls it a "Catch-22" for business owners, telling CBS Colorado they've been ready to clean up for months, but the state's requirements would cost them too much time and money.
"The presence of that debris has physically prevented us from doing testing underneath that site. However, we've done ample testing all around the site, and every single one of those tests has shown that there's no asbestos on site," Rigler said. "It's so ironic because we've got CDPHE on the one hand saying that we need to make sure that there's no asbestos particles, and on the other hand, there's a giant ash heap that's been blown around by wind."
CDPHE can waive requirements, for example, CDPHE's Senior Director of Air Quality Programs, Michael Ogletree, says that after a wildfire a few years ago, they did not always require asbestos testing in homes because people were evacuated and the large number of affected buildings. But in this case, the state says there are cleanup options that don't require a waiver.
"The vast majority, if not all, of the fires, commercial fires such as this are treated as asbestos containing as a standard practice," Ogletree said, "We're trying to balance the risk of digging everything up, putting it in a truck and moving it uncovered, versus, you know, the winds blowing, certainly a concern."
When asked why the process is taking so long, Ogletree said, "You know, it's something that we've been working very closely with Tebo Properties, as well as with the town of Nederland, to provide different options and solutions for moving forward."
The state says it still requires asbestos testing, even in new buildings, because some building materials can legally contain asbestos today despite common misconceptions and some specific bans. CDPHE says it allowed the property to slightly move some of the debris for additional testing, but Tebo says that can also be expensive.
Tebo Properties hopes to collect hundreds more samples this week but it's up to CDPHE to determine if that's enough to move forward with non-asbestos demolition processes.
Tebo has also released renderings of what the new shopping center will look like once it is constructed. The company said it will house approximately 24 storefronts and will be available to previous tenants first.
