BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - The state Attorney General's Office says two western New York contractors have been charged with illegally dumping tons of asbestos-contaminated debris inside an abandoned warehouse in Buffalo.
Authorities say 45-year-old Robert Bishop of East Amherst and 47-year-old Salvatore Capizzi of Grand Island are charged with endangering public health, safety or the environment and criminal mischief.
They're charged with taking more than five tons of asbestos-contaminated debris from Buffalo-area construction sites and storing it at a warehouse. When Bishop got word that state labor officials wanted to inspect his facility, authorities say he paid his workers to haul the waste to an abandoned warehouse.
It remained at that site for more than a year before it was found by state inspectors.
The site has since been cleaned at a cost of more than $137,000.
