Latest Fibers Stories

By Michelle Dynes The property, in a residential neighborhood, was used for dumping construction debris. By Michelle Dynes mdynes@wyomignews.com CHEYENNE - Bonnie Chapman was beginning to think this day would never come. Bulldozers sifted through mounds of dirt while dump trucks hauled away the debris Wednesday. The lot neighboring her home between Lupe and Four Mile roads contains construction rubble laden with asbestos, she said. The fragments were discovered nearly two years ago,...

By Melissa Repko Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center is facing $110,000 in federal fines for its alleged improper handling and disposal of asbestos during a renovation project. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said that in December 2007, when part of the hospital was closed for renovation work, no safeguards were taken when disposing of asbestos. Arthur Dube, OSHA's area director, said the hospital was notified last Tuesday. OSHA inspected the area after a employee...

The continuous fabrication of complex, three-dimensional nanoscale structures and the ability to grow individual nanowires of unlimited length are now possible with a process developed by researchers at the University of Illinois.Based on the rapid evaporation of solvent from simple "inks," the process has been used to fabricate freestanding nanofibers, stacked arrays of nanofibers and continuously wound spools of nanowires. Potential applications include electronic interconnects,...

By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior Senate Republican vowed on Wednesday to press ahead with his legislation for a privately funded $140 billion trust to pay asbestos injury claims, scoffing at a warning that taxpayers may end up paying the bill. The Senate bill failed by one vote to overcome a procedural hurdle in the Senate in February. Its sponsors recently amended it to attract more support, but it is unclear how much they have gained. "We're going to do whatever it...

By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate proposal for a privately funded trust to pay asbestos injury claims is laden with uncertainty and taxpayers risk footing the bill, the former head of the Congressional Budget Office plans to tell a Senate committee on Wednesday. The highly critical assessment of the asbestos legislation by Douglas Holtz-Eakin appears in testimony prepared for delivery on Wednesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. A copy was made available...

By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Until now it has been the elephant in the room during Senate debates about asbestos poisoning: What about the vast cloud of dust that blanketed New York City when the World Trade Center collapsed? Several senators have spent years working to craft a $140 billion fund that could process thousands of injury claims from people sickened by asbestos. There has been little discussion of whether a new wave of claims may arise from the September 11,...

By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sponsors of legislation to compensate U.S. asbestos victims said on Friday they had expanded it to include access to payments for people sickened by the mineral as a result of disasters such as hurricanes or the September 11 attacks. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter and Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy announced they were reviving their efforts to get a Senate vote on the bill, which would create a privately financed $140 billion fund to compensate...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted to block legislation to create a $140 billion privately-financed fund to compensate asbestos victims, a move sponsors had warned would effectively kill the bill. The Senate vote sustained an objection to the bill from John Ensign, a Nevada Republican, on grounds it could force U.S. taxpayers to pick up some asbestos costs, in violation of budget rules.

By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leader of U.S. Senate Democrats said on Monday he would consider backing curbs on some asbestos lawsuits if the chamber would scuttle legislation removing all claims from court and paying victims from a $140 billion trust fund. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid urged senators to "get this bill off the floor" ahead of a major procedural vote, that could come as early as Tuesday, over whether the industry-funded trust could cost taxpayers in...

By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of Republican senators on Thursday proposed completely rewriting an asbestos bill to allow lawsuits under strict medical criteria rather than create a $140 billion fund to pay victims of the mineral. The new approach to resolve years of litigation over lung-scarring diseases and cancer linked to asbestos was offered by Texas Republican John Cornyn, who said he had 14 Republican co-sponsors and hoped to attract Democrats. Cornyn's...