In Springfield, Illinois, the aging Stratton Building at 401 S. Spring Street, built in 1953 at a cost of $11.5 million, contains so much asbestos that, according to Rep. Rich Brauer (R-Petersburg), maintenance crews have to hire an asbestos abatement firm every time they replace a light bulb.
It is an exaggeration, of course, but the building - which houses state offices and is home base to the Illinois General Assembly - is caught in a budgetary impasse which prevents the state from either demolishing it or renovating it, even though the Stratton Building is described as one of the state government's "most inefficient buildings".
Demolition, under the $250-million Capital Development Fund approved in 2009, is being hampered by the fact that the Fund relies on the state-licensed video poker venue for revenues. Unfortunately, more and more Illinois cities and municipalities are opting out of that plan, meaning the money just isn't there.
Even worse, asbestos remediation and demolition are likely to cost more than the Capital Development Fund has allocated, according to Fund spokesman Dave Blanchette. Which means that the asbestos-ridden, H-shaped Stratton Building remains in limbo, irritating the noses, throats and visual aesthetics of state lawmakers, who have offices in the building.
Asbestos, once considered a "miracle substance" for its chemical resistance, stability, and highly effective insulative qualities, was used during most of the 20th century in all manner of building, automotive and household products. In buildings, the most common uses were in floor tiles or sheet flooring, mastics, acoustical ceiling tiles, acoustical or decorative plaster-type ceiling and wall sprays, window and door caulk, plaster/drywall patching compound, and as insulation around boiler hot-water pipes and furnace ductwork.
Asbestos, which causes asbestosis (a chronic respiratory disease) and some lung and digestive system cancers, is also the only known cause of mesothelioma, which in 75 percent of cases manifests as malignant pleural mesothelioma, or MPM, a cancer of the mesothelial sheath which surrounds and protects the lungs.
Mesothelioma also occurs as pericardial mesothelioma, around the heart, and peritoneal mesothelioma, in the abdomen, two locations where mesothelial tissue is also present. In all cases, mesothelioma is a cancer of long dormancy, producing few if any specific symptoms for up to 50 years.
After that, however, the symptoms usually drive victims to consult a doctor, and the prognosis is almost invariably the same; a year, or perhaps slightly more, to live. Little has changed to improve this prognosis in the last quarter century, and radical therapies like surgery, radiation and chemotherapy are largely palliative, designed to improve breathing and reduce pain, than curative.
For state representatives, staff, and visitors, the Stratton Building could be a time bomb with a 50-year fuse, but it is the only building the state currently has setting up health effects that reveal themselves only after half a century.
In fact, the building doesn't even have any architectural merit. At eight stories, and constructed largely of concrete with dark green glass windows, it is only the building's proximity to the state capital (yes, Springfield, not Chicago) that warrants its use for anything. Fortunately, according to Steve Brown, a staffer working for House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), the master plan for replacing the building is 75 percent complete. Little has been said about how to finance the new construction.
Sources: Springfield State-Register, Illinois General Assembly website
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