MTA Will Isolate Asbestos At East New York Bus Depot: Report

EAST NEW YORK, BROOKLYN — The MTA will encapsulate the asbestos-contaminated cloth that lines the vents of an East New York bus facility, the Daily News reported on Friday.

“The MTA is committed to ensuring the safety of all work sites and protecting employees from health hazards," MTA spokesperson Tim Minton said.

About 1,000 people work at the East New York bus depot, where some MTA employees found out earlier this year that cloth on the ventilation units had potentially cancer-causing asbestos on them for decades, the Daily News reported last month. After the Daily News reported two days later that that the vents with the asbestos-filled cloth on them had been turned off the day following the report, an MTA spokesperson initially denied that they had done so.

"NYCT Transit did not shut down a single vent, nor do we have plans to do so," said Minton, the MTA spokesperson.

The asbestos-laced cloth was found in the winter when workers replaced equipment and one of them saw dust from the cloth leaking into ventilation system, the News reported via internal MTA emails. Now, contractors will begin a process to ensure the asbestos does not leak into the ventilation system, according to the report.

The move comes weeks after local politicians last month called for immediate remediation of the asbestos-laced cloths, which are meant to reduce vibration on the vents in the decades-old depot.

"One-thousand men and women who turn out at this depot should not have to experience the dangers that are associated with asbestos," said Borough President Eric Adams at a press conference in September. "These members should not have to endure an environment that is unhealthy."

"We shouldn't be here talking about the health of our workers," said local Council Member Rafael Espinal at the time. "That should be a given."

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the asbestos-laced cloth would be removed from the vents. The cloth will be isolated from the ventilation system but not removed.