SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) State workers object to a plan to return Public Education Department employees to the basement of a Santa Fe building that's undergone remediation for mold and asbestos. A lawyer for the public employees' union Communications Workers of America sent a letter Monday to Education Secretary Hanna Skandera warning of a possible lawsuit if workers are returned to the basement of the department's building near the Capitol.
Department spokesman Larry Behrens said the agency plans to relocate about 20 workers to the basement. He and a General Services Department spokesman said testing has shown no potential health hazards.
Union officials want testing for hazardous vapors that could seep into buildings from possible contamination in the soil and groundwater from leaking underground gasoline storage tanks and chemicals from other former area businesses.
