Washington, Oct 20, 2003 - Late last week, Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), joined by the Ranking Members of the House Government Reform Committee and the House Education and the Workforce Committee, sent a letter to the Acting EPA Administrator urging the EPA not to remove asbestos guidence for auto repair shops. Asbestos is still found in automobile brakes from older cars, some new cars, and brake repairs.

Despite overwhelming scientific evidence on the harmful affects of asbestos exposure, a high power law firm, Morgan Lewis, recently lobbied the EPA on behalf of an undisclosed client to reverse a 17-year old EPA Guidance Book on asbestos standards in auto repair shops.

A recent study of auto shops in six states and DC found that two-thirds of the surveyed locations showed substantial levels of asbestos. This survey clearly indicates that lifting the EPA Guidance, as advocated by Morgan Lewis and their undisclosed client, would put the 750,000 brake mechanics in the United States at greater risk.

Congressman Henry Waxman, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Government Reform; Congressman George Miller, Ranking Member of the House Education and Workforce Committee; Congressman John Tierney, Ranking Member of the Government Reform Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Natural Resources and Regulatory Affairs; and Congressman Major Owens, Ranking Member of the Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protection joined Kucinich in sending the letter.