Utah Businessman Indicted for Allegedly Failing to Remove 3,330 Tons of Asbestos-Containing Debris After Hotel Demolition

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – A federal grand jury in Salt Lake City, Utah, returned an indictment February 14, 2024, charging a businessman and part owner of a company that owned Broadway Hotel, with Clean Air Act Violations. The owner failed to properly dispose of 3,330 tons of asbestos-containing debris, which cost the Environmental Protection Agency $1.1 million to remove following emergency action. 

According to court documents, Daniel J. Brett, 68, of Murray, Utah, was a businessman and part-owner of the Broadway Hotel, a 21,000 square foot structure located on North Broadway Avenue in Tooele, Utah. The hotel was in a residential and mixed-use neighborhood with three primary schools within a half mile. Brett and his co-owner/managing partner intended to include the hotel in a redevelopment project, known as the Broadway Heritage Village. However, in July 2020, the Broadway Hotel experienced a fire, and its demolition was ordered by the owners because the hotel was deemed structurally unsound. Brett and his partner began coordinating the hotel’s demolition, ignoring the fact the hotel contained asbestos in numerous locations, including in its thermal system/boiler insulation, wall plaster, rolled vinyl flooring and roofing materials. The presence of asbestos in the Broadway Hotel was known since 2011, when an Environmental Site Assessment was performed by a third party.

The owners hired an excavation company, which was not trained or certified to work with regulated asbestos-containing material, to demolish the hotel. Additionally, this was the company’s first major demolition. In December 2020, two individuals at the excavation company performed the demolition without self-contained breathing apparatus and protective suits and other protective equipment (PPE). Brett agreed, as owner, to dispose of the debris after demolition. However, Brett left the Broadway Hotel debris pile at the site, uncovered for fifteen months. Despite knowing the demolition pile contained asbestos-containing material, Brett did not keep the demolition pile continually wet, as required by the Clean Air Act. 

In February 2022, contractors with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initiated an emergency removal action at the site of the Broadway Hotel debris pile. The work was completed in March 2022. The emergency removal action ultimately required the clean-up and proper disposal of 3,330 tons of asbestos containing debris, which cost the EPA, approximately $1.1 million.

EPA

Brett is charged with three counts of Clean Air Act violations. His initial court appearance on the indictment is scheduled for March 14, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. in courtroom 8.4 before a U.S. Magistrate Judge at the Orrin G. Hatch United States District Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City. 

U.S. Attorney, Trina A. Higgins, of the District of Utah made the announcement.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is investigating the case.

Assistant United States Attorney Ruth Hackford-Peer of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah is prosecuting the case. 
 
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.