Danger lurks below U.S. Capitol

In July, the Public Health Service completed an asbestos assessment of the tunnels soon after NBC's interview with the architect. The health agency found some areas of the pipes in the five tunnels they inspected contained asbestos in "good condition." But dozens of other areas in the tunnels were found to have exposed or damaged asbestos. The sixth tunnel was not inspected because it was in the process of being abated. The public health agency's report recommended that all asbestos-containing materials in the tunnels be removed or properly encapsulated.

The Capitol's utility tunnel system contains hundreds of tons of asbestos, according to the Office of Compliance. This is not a problem as long as the asbestos is "encapsulated" and properly maintained, according to health and safety experts. Many old buildings contain asbestos. But potential health problems occur when this material gets airborne.

"There certainly shouldn't be ambient asbestos floating around in the tunnels," Hantman says.

But falling concrete often damages the asbestos-containing insulation covering tunnel pipes — exposing asbestos. Government health experts — who have inspected the tunnels — warn that even relatively small amounts of loose asbestos in the tunnels "could be enough to contaminate the whole area."

According to the Office of Compliance, they have discovered asbestos in portions of the tunnels where there is no asbestos-containing material insulating the pipes. This suggests that asbestos in the tunnels is or has been airborne. In fact, the oversight office recently conducted its own asbestos tests in the tunnels and discovered large amounts of asbestos in dust that had accumulated on the top of pipes in the tunnels.

To see just how bad the asbestos was, NBC News obtained a sample from inside the tunnels and had it tested at a nationally renowned lab. NBC was not present when the sample was collected. The lab hired by NBC found 30 percent to 40 percent concentrations of asbestos — considered extremely dangerous.

“This is not something that you are going to want to have loose and laying about,” says Joe Centifonti from the EMSL Analytical laboratory in Maryland, where NBC News had the material tested. “This is something that should be sealed and locked down. I personally wouldn't want to be working around anything that's damaged like that, day in and day out."

The results didn’t surprise the workers.

Thayer has worked in the tunnels for 22 years. In 1998, at the age of 33, his lung age was equivalent to that of a 118-year-old, according to his medical records. He was diagnosed with scarring of the lungs, an indication of exposure to asbestos.

“I have lesions on my lungs — scarring on my lungs,” says Thayer.

Other workers believe they have suffered from exposure as well. “I have breathing problems,” says Scotty Smith.

“I have a pulmonary, respiratory abnormality,” adds Christian Raley.

Workers complain that the Architect of the Capitol has consistently dismissed many of their health problems. Asked about the health conditions of the workers, Hantman told NBC News, for instance, that none of them had any “indication of asbestosis.”

Yet three of the workers NBC News interviewed recently visited a renowned asbestos expert in Michigan, Dr. Michael Harbut of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine. According to the workers, their initial medical tests indicated that all three had indications of “asbestosis.” Harbut would not discuss the tunnel workers’ cases due to privacy concerns, but did review the test results of the material NBC News had tested from the tunnel. The amount of asbestos in those materials is potentially “extremely dangerous,” he said. “This is crazy to have this kind of thing going on right under the nose of the seat of government."

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