BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley announced a $100,000 consent judgment on Thursday against a Swampscott demolition company that allegedly engaged in the improper removal and disposal of asbestos-containing waste.
Total Dismantling and Carting Services Inc. and its successor, The Total Group Inc., allegedly violated the state's Clean Air Act by repeatedly removing and disposing of asbestos-containing material throughout eastern Massachusetts without giving notice to the Department of Environmental Protection.
The Clean Air Act requires that companies notify MassDEP to make sure that renovation and demolition companies properly handle and dispose 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," Coakley said. "It is especially important to take the proper precautions in a heavily traveled area like the Boston waterfront."
Total Dismantling allegedly dismantled the former Hook Lobster Building on the Boston waterfront in 2008 after a fire without removing asbestos-containing material first. The company allegedly failed to use proper containment procedures at the demolition site and during transport to an unpermitted storage site in Revere.
Under the terms of the consent judgment, Total Dismantling and the Total Group must pay a civil penalty of $100,000 for alleged violations at the Hook site and three other demolition sites in Swampscott, Malden and Saugus. Half of the penalty is suspended provided the companies comply with the judgment and engage in no further violations during a five-year probationary period.
Mass. AG announces $100,000 judgment against demolition company
