Asbestos Hazardous Emergency Response Act (AHERA)
Title 20, Chapter 52, Sec. 4011.

(a) Findings

(1)
exposure to asbestos fibers has been identified over a long period of time and by reputable medical and scientific evidence as significantly increasing the incidence of cancer and other severe or fatal diseases, such as asbestosis;

(2)
medical evidence has suggested that children may be particularly vulnerable to environmentally induced cancers;

(3)
medical science has not established any minimum level of exposure to asbestos fibers which is considered to be safe to individuals exposed to the fibers;

(4)
substantial amounts of asbestos, particularly in sprayed form, have been used in school buildings, especially during the period 1946 through 1972;

(5)
partial surveys in some States have indicated that

(A)
in a number of school buildings materials containing asbestos fibers have become damaged or friable, causing asbestos fibers to be dislodged into the air, and

(B)
asbestos concentration far exceeding normal ambient air levels have been found in school buildings containing such damaged materials;

(6)
the presence in school buildings of friable or easily damaged asbestos creates an unwarranted hazard to the health of the school children and school employees who are exposed to such materials;

(7)
the Department of Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as several States, have attempted to publicize the potential hazards to school children and employees from exposure to asbestos fibers, but there is no systematic program for remedying hazardous conditions in schools;

(8)
because there is no Federal health standard regulating the concentration of asbestos fibers in noncommercial workplace environments such as schools, school employees and students may be exposed to hazardous concentrations of asbestos fibers in the school buildings which they use each day;

(9)
without a program of information distribution, technical and scientific assistance, and financial support, many local educational agencies and States will not be able to mitigate the potential asbestos hazards in their schools; and

(10)
the effective regulation of interstate commerce for the protection of the public health requires the establishment of programs under this subchapter to mitigate hazards from exposure to asbestos fibers and materials emitting such fibers.

(b) Purpose

(1)
direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a program to assist States and local educational agencies to ascertain the extent of the danger to the health of school children and employees from asbestos materials in schools;

(2)
provide continuing scientific and technical assistance to State and local agencies to enable them to identify and abate asbestos hazards in schools;

(3)
provide financial assistance for the abatement of asbestos threats to the health and safety of school children or employees; and

(4)
assure that no employee of any local educational agency suffers any disciplinary action as a result of calling attention to potential asbestos hazards which may exist in schools.