Lawmakers demand action on Capitol tunnel hazards

[Rose Siding]

Four lawmakers lambasted the Architect of the Capitol (AoC) yesterday for neglecting to protect the health and safety of employees working in crumbling, asbestos-lined utility tunnels.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) sent a scathing letter to Architect Alan Hantman yesterday expressing her “disgust” at the conditions that his employees were subjected to inside the tunnels and the potential security risks that have been alleged.

“If it is true that U.S. Capitol Police are forbidden from patrolling the tunnels because of the hazardous conditions, then your failure to address these conditions also has created a potentially serious security loophole that could endanger all of us who work in the Capitol and surrounding buildings,” she wrote.
....
Mikulski commended the workers for coming forward and warned that any retaliation toward them “would not be tolerated.”
....
In addition to unstable, crumbling walls that could “collapse at any time without warning,” the complaint suggested that the communications systems inside the tunnels were so inadequate that a trapped worker might not be able to receive help should an emergency occur.

http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/033006/tunnels.html

[Wickerman]

1. Symbolic of the Bush misAdministration

Everything falls apart.

[Virginia Dare]

2. Way before Katrina...

the people in D.C. and it's suburbs realized we are all the way on our own when it comes to the possibility of catastrophe. There simply isn't anybody home at DHS anymore.

[liberalnurse]

3. I love the tunnels.....

I understand the health issues....but from a sentimental view point, they are priceless. I hope they can retain the historical value while establishing a safe pathway.