Sinisgalli Incorporated Accused of Asbestos Violations
Federal investigators have announced they believe a Rochester, New York business has violated the Clean Air Act due to its handling of asbestos. Sinisgalli Incorporated, owned by Mr. Louis Sinisgalli, was contracted by the city of Rochester to tear down structurally unsound buildings. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that building and a possible three others, were demolished with no concern for the substantial amounts of asbestos inside.
The EPA said it was never notified of the demolition which is required by law and Sinisgalli did not submit any waste shipment records to the City of Rochester to show where the asbestos may have ended up.
Agents then raided the Pittsford home of Mr. Sinisgalli last Friday, confiscating boxes of business and tax records, computers and over $800,000 in cash. Currently, no charges have been filed against Mr. Sinisgalli but two of his employees have been accused of illegally dumping asbestos waste in a suburban landfill.
This is not the first time Sinisgalli, Inc. has been cited by the Department of Labor. In 1996 the company was charged with a number of violations in its handling of asbestos and conducting abatement procedures without a license. The city has awarded contracts to the company since 2003 that total more than $5.2 million.
Exposure to asbestos can lead to a number of illnesses such as asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma, a fatal form of cancer. Due to a long latency period the illnesses are typically not discovered for 20 to 50 years, too late for any effective treatment.
Rochester Mayor Bob Duffy was asked why the city continued to hire the company that had a history of environmental violations and his response was, “I can’t speak to what happened before three years ago, but I can speak from three years on and I think my instincts told me very early on in this administration that we had to fix the current process with the demolitions.”
The investigation into Sinisgalli, Inc. began last summer after the city’s Office of Public Integrity looked into how demolition contracts were awarded. Since the investigation began, four city employees have been either suspended or fired and more arrests are expected as the investigation continues.
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Is it possible that maybe a few greedy and lazy employees acted on their own and maybe did not handle asbestos properly? Why would good company which has handled all kinds of demolition and asbestos abatement projects big projects screw around with a few houses in Roch and not do their paperwork properly and then put their company and their long , very long history and business and personal reputations on the line for the sake of saving $500 in asbestos tipping fees at the dump?
I don’t get it. This company did a small garage/ barn demo job for me and they were nice,safe and professional. I even offered the guy cash to save on paying the freakin county tax and he wouldn’t accept it. These guys are clean. I don’t believe it.