Capitol tunnel workers have lung disease

Lisa Myers Senior investigative correspondent • Profile

WASHINGTON - Three of the 10 men who work in the utility tunnels underneath the U.S. Capitol have asbestos-related lung disease, and another four “most likely” are developing asbestos-related lung disease as well, according to an independent asbestos specialist who recently examined them. The three received a diagnosis of definite asbestosis — the scarring of the lungs caused by inhaling asbestos fibers. The other four received a diagnosis of probable asbestosis.

The NBC News Investigative Unit first reported on the workers’ concerns about dangerous conditions in the tunnels last summer. The workers had complained that their employer, the Architect of the Capitol, had done little to address their complaints or protect them from the conditions, which included the presence of dangerous levels of airborne asbestos.

The new development came as the tunnel workers continue to ask Congress to act to address all the hazards in the Capitol’s tunnel system.

Last year, the workers blew the whistle about serious dangers in their workplace. The tunnels beneath the Capitol carry steam and chilled water throughout the Capitol complex. The workers, known as “the Tunnel Rats,” have worked in these tunnels for years, some for decades.

They claimed they had warned their managers repeatedly that conditions in the tunnels were deteriorating. Parts of tunnel ceilings were falling, the tunnels were full of thick dust, and temperatures were often above 130 degrees. They say they told the managers that conditions were becoming increasingly dangerous, that the Architect of the Capitol’s own studies showed that, and that they feared for their health and their lives. They claim their managers did not act on the workers’ warnings or on the conclusions of the studies, and that conditions worsened instead of improved.

"We ask questions about our safety," John Thayer, the tunnel workers' supervisor, told us during an interview last summer. "And they refuse to answer them."

The tunnel workers knew that some of the pipes were coated with the insulation material asbestos.

They say they kept asking their managers if they were monitoring and testing to make sure loose asbestos was not getting into the air.

They say they kept hearing their managers say: Don't worry, the asbestos was in good condition, they were not required to wear respiratory protection, they were safe.

Last year — they say they learned they weren’t safe.

A complaint filed in February 2006 by the Congressional Office of Compliance [.PDF link] against the tunnel workers' employer, the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, focused on much of what they had warned about. The complaint charged that the AOC had "effectively ignored... many potentially life-threatening safety and health violations" and failed to fix hazards previously reported as violations of federal law. That accusation, from a Congressional office, prompted the workers to take their own concerns public.

The next month, they wrote a letter to several Members of Congress asking for help. They also began researching records — any and all tunnel asbestos records, and their own medical records.

The workers claim that taking their complaints public prompted retaliation by the Architect of the Capitol. So last summer they sought legal representation, and last October filed their own complaint with the Office of Compliance, accusing the Architect of the Capitol of subjecting them to "increasingly hostile treatment, false accusations, and threats of dismissal."

FREE VIDEO Tunnel workers in their own words July 2006: NBC News obtained this video shot inside the Capitol’s utility tunnels -- to document what the workers say are unsafe working conditions that should have been fixed when the workers first complained about them in 2000. Nightly News

Last summer, the NBC News Investigative Unit obtained video showing dangerous conditions inside the utility tunnels that run beneath the U.S. Capitol. The video showed slabs of concrete falling from sagging ceilings, and lots of white dust coating some pipes and floors.

We tested one dust sample removed from the tunnels last summer. NBC News was not present when the sample was collected. A nationally renowned lab found a 30-40 percent concentration of asbestos — considered extremely dangerous.

The workers say that test result was another piece of evidence of what they had come to believe: their work in the tunnels was exposing them to loose asbestos.

They also had found documents showing that the government's own tests had found some of the dust contained loose asbestos.

"We were pipe fitting and breathing all this asbestos with no warning, you know?" said Frank Binns, an insulator and pipefitter for 12 years. "And they — they didn't take care of it. "

Through their research, they had learned that if inhaled, asbestos fibers can scar lungs, and potentially cause death.

"We've been in danger," said Edward Hill, a pipefitter in the tunnel shop for 27 years, "the whole time we've been down there."

"The idea that they've been exposed to life-threatening levels of asbestos just below the halls of Congress," said David J. Marshall, the workers' attorney, "is something that is absolutely shocking."

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