A Syracuse asbestos-removal company was indicted on federal charges Thursday of falsifying reports that it removed and tested asbestos at the Alpha Chi Omega sorority house at Syracuse University as well as falsifying tests done at several SU residence halls and academic buildings.

Certified Environmental Services, Inc. and six individuals were charged in the indictment, including the owner, Barbara Duchene, and two supervisors, Nicole Copeland and Elisa Dunn. Charges in the indictment list Clean Air Act violations, mail fraud and making false statements to the Environmental Protection Agency. CES also falsified reports at about 30 other central New York properties.

Copeland and Dunn filed reports stating they had properly examined and tested the AXO house in August 2007, according to the indictment. But prosecutors allege that the company failed to properly test the property for asbestos and did not remove hazardous asbestos.

CES also falsified reports that it tested 11 different Syracuse University properties for asbestos from 2004 to 2006, according to the indictment. The properties include Brewster, Brockway and Flint halls, Archbold Gymnasium, the School of Nursing, and former Theta Chi fraternity house where a university parking garage now sits at 403 Comstock Ave. Academic buildings on SU property were also listed in the indictment including Newhouse II, Link Hall, Hinds Hall, Slocum Hall and Lyman Hall.

Asbestos was a fiber commonly used in insulation until it was found that prolonged exposure causes a number of diseases including mesothelioma, a deadly cancer of the internal organs, according to the Mayo Clinic Web site.

In response to the indictment filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, university spokesman Kevin Morrow released a statement addressing several concerns over the falsified reports. He stated that the asbestos work on university projects were performed in accordance with the university’s Physical Plant Environmental Shop or Environmental Protection Services, Inc. requirements. The university has had another monitoring firm conduct visual inspections and air samplings in the locations identified in the indictment, Morrow said in the statement.

‘No suspect material or debris was found through the visual inspections, and the results of air monitoring indicated no reason for concern in any of the areas tested,’ Morrow said.

SU hired the other asbestos air monitoring firm in spring 2007 after working with CES, the firm under investigation, from 1991 until 2007, according to the statement. The university was notified by the USAO in January 2007 that they were investigating CES, specifically about a pipe insulation removal project from 2005 in part of Archbold Gymnasium.

As a result of the investigation, SU hired the other monitoring firm to visually inspect and re-sample the area, and they reported results consistent with New York State regulatory requirements. Since then, SU was contacted several times by the USAO about CES’ air monitoring services and worked with them in their investigations.

The statement reports the university locations listed in the indictment have been re-tested by a third-party monitoring firm which delivered samples to a New York State Certified Environmental Laboratory Approval Program for analysis, with results indicating no reason for concern in any of the locations.

Updated: 5/30/09adbrow03@syr.edu

Published on June 24, 2009 at 12:00 pm