Banned Products in a 1955 Office Building: Does the EPA Ban Require Removal?
The manager of a 1955 office building in downtown Denver is planning a $4 million renovation. The inspection report identifies 800 linear feet of corrugated paper pipe insulation in the mechanical shafts, 200 square feet of flooring felt under carpet, and 1,200 square feet of 12-inch by 12-inch vinyl floor tile. The renovation will disturb about 150 linear feet of the corrugated paper and 60 square feet of the felt. The manager has read that EPA banned asbestos and asks three questions: must the corrugated paper and flooring felt be removed simply because they are banned products; can the mechanical contractor install new imported asbestos-containing sheet gaskets in the boilers; and if the project later becomes a full demolition, is notification required even if the tile and felt are left in place and are non-friable?
1. Does the federal asbestos ban require the owner to remove the corrugated paper and flooring felt before the renovation?
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No. The 1989 EPA rule banned the manufacture, import, processing, and distribution of several product categories, including corrugated paper, rollboard, commercial paper, specialty paper, and flooring felt, and it banned new uses of asbestos. Much of that rule was vacated in 1991, but those category bans and the new-use ban survived. EPA's 2024 TSCA rule on chrysotile asbestos separately phases out most remaining ongoing uses on staggered compliance dates. Neither rule requires a building owner to remove asbestos-containing material that is already in place. The in-place material is regulated when it is disturbed, under NESHAP, Colorado Regulation No. 8, Part B, and OSHA. So the corrugated paper and flooring felt can stay if they are not disturbed. But this renovation will disturb about 150 linear feet of the paper and 60 square feet of the felt, which triggers the assessment, work-practice, and waste-handling requirements. The ban is about products entering commerce, not about mandatory removal from existing buildings.
2. Can the mechanical contractor install new imported asbestos-containing sheet gaskets in the boilers?
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The contractor should not assume that an imported gasket is legal just because it is available. The 2024 TSCA chrysotile rule restricts the manufacture, import, processing, and distribution of chrysotile asbestos and chrysotile-containing products, including sheet gaskets, with staggered compliance dates for different uses. Once the applicable date has passed, new asbestos-containing sheet gaskets cannot be imported or installed in the United States. Before that date, the product still must meet applicable OSHA and NESHAP requirements, and the owner should require the contractor to provide a written certification that the gasket is asbestos-free rather than relying on a catalog description. Colorado does not have its own separate ban that replaces the federal scheme, so TSCA is the controlling prohibition. The practical judgment for the owner is to specify non-asbestos gaskets in the bid documents, which avoids the compliance-date question entirely and protects the building from a future disturbance problem.
3. If the project becomes a full demolition, is notification required even if the tile and felt are left in place and are non-friable?
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Yes. Demolition notification is required regardless of whether asbestos is present, and it is required even if the only asbestos-containing materials are non-friable and are left in place. The notification must describe the facility, the scheduled demolition, and the asbestos-containing materials that were identified, including the 1,200 square feet of tile and 200 square feet of felt. During demolition, the contractor must prevent those materials from being crumbled, pulverized, or reduced to powder; if the demolition method will break them, they must be removed before demolition as RACM. The fact that the renovation alone might disturb only 150 linear feet of paper and 60 square feet of felt, below the 260-linear-foot and 160-square-foot NESHAP thresholds, does not make the demolition exempt. Thresholds determine when certain renovation notifications and abatement requirements apply; they are not a safe level of exposure and they do not override the separate demolition notification requirement.