Swampscott demolition company ordered to pay $100,000 in civil penalties after improper asbestos removal

A demolition company from Swampscott has been ordered to pay the Commonwealth $100,000 in civil penalties for the alleged improper removal and disposal of asbestos-containing waste at locations throughout eastern Massachusetts, including the Hook Lobster Company building on the Boston waterfront, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced today.

According to the complaint, Total Dismantling and Carting Services, Inc., and its successor, The Total Group, Inc., both of Swampscott, violated the states Clean Air Act by repeatedly removing and disposing of asbestos-containing material without notifying the Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) that the work was going to occur. The Clean Air Act requires notifications to MassDEP to ensure that demolition and renovation companies are properly handling and disposing of asbestos.

Companies are not permitted to risk public health, safety, or the environment by failing to properly handle asbestos or by failing to disclose when they are working at demolition sites that involve asbestos, AG Coakley said. It is especially important to take the proper precautions in a heavily traveled area like the Boston waterfront.

MassDEP works to ensure that asbestos-containing materials are identified and properly removed, handled, packaged and stored in accordance with the regulations, said MassDEP Commissioner Kenneth Kimmell. Failure to follow the right procedures is an extremely serious oversight that potentially exposes workers and the general public to a known carcinogen and inevitably results in significant penalty exposure for the violator.

The complaint also alleges that Total Dismantling and Carting Services and Removal Specialists demolished the former Hook Lobster Building in 2008 after it burned in a fire without removing all of the asbestos-containing material first and without notifying MassDEP that it was going to perform the work.

Additionally, the company allegedly failed to use the proper containment procedures at the Hook Lobster demolition site and during transport to an unpermitted storage site in Revere.

The consent judgment, approved in Suffolk Superior Court today, requires Total Dismantling and Carting Services Inc., and the Total Group to pay a civil penalty of $100,000 for their share of the violations involving the Hook site as well as violations at three other demolition sites in Saugus, Malden and Swampscott. Half of that amount in the settlement is suspended provided the companies comply with the judgment and commit no further violations during a 5-year probationary period.

Assistant Attorney General Louis Dundin, of the AGs Environmental Protection Division, is representing the Commonwealth in the litigation.Attorney Colleen McConnell is handling the case for MassDEP, along with environmental analysts John MacAuley and Karen Golden-Smith of MassDEPs Northeast Regional Office.

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Swampscott demolition company ordered to pay $100,000 in civil penalties after improper asbestos removal