Chaffee Crossing is a small town in Arkansas that is the site of an old U.S. army base recently swept by fire.  The destruction ranged over one hundred acres and destroyed 150 buildings.  There were no human casualties in the fire, but the buildings destroyed were almost certainly sites where asbestos insulation, plumbing fittings and other asbestos-laden materials were used for construction.

The Federal Emergency Management Administration has denied Chafee Crossing federal disaster area status, regardless of the asbestos concerns.  With this development, the area has been denied access to federal funds that would largely finance the cleanup operations, including those of asbestos abatement, which have been estimated at $4.6 million. Local officials say that if the town were forced to foot the bill it would handcuff the local economy for several years.

Part of what is blocking the funding are EPA test performed after the fire which indicated that the asbestos levels were low enough that the site did not qualify for the EPA’s Superfund, which levies fees upon polluters that are redirected back into environmental quality improvements. However, tests performed by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality found asbestos contamination in some areas to be much higher than EPA estimates, potentially endangering citizens in the surrounding area.

Also thwarting the area’s access to federal funds are the target goals of the cleanup. Most of the FEMA funds are reserved for cleanup in addition to rebuilding efforts. Rebuilding is not part of the town’s intentions, as nearly all the buildings destroyed were abandoned several years ago. However, due to their age, nearly all of these structures contained at least some asbestos in their building compounds or other materials.  Another example of some remarkably convoluted circular reasoning from FEMA.