ALBANY - The Department of Environmental Quality has fined an Albany woman $8,417 for "allowing an unlicensed person to perform an asbestos abatement project."

The fine was issued Jan. 5 and Wanda Fay Scheler filed an appeal Jan. 16. The DEQ's Courtney Brown said the appeal was denied.

Scheler said Thursday that she plans to ask for another hearing. She said the project was supposed to be painting only, but the workers pulled "off a few shingles at the top of the house."

According to the DEQ, Scheler owns a rental property at 3755 Knox Butte Road. In August 2007, she reportedly hired two workers for a renovation project and they removed about 293 square feet of siding that was put into trash bags and placed into Dumpsters. They also removed an old stovepipe that included insulation tape.

During an Aug. 16 inspection, DEQ staff saw "pieces of siding waste scattered along the sides of the residence and saw that the insulation tape on the old stove pipe was in very poor condition."

Samples were taken to the DEQ's laboratory. The side waste was found to contain 10 percent chrysotile asbestos and the insulation tape contained 50 percent. The DEQ regulates handling and disposal of any materials that contain more than 1 percent asbestos.

The DEQ inspectors noted the workers broke the siding when removing it from the home and that creates the potential for asbestos particles to be released into the air. The same was noted for the insulation tape.

The DEQ also charged that the workers did not "properly label and package the friable ACWM (asbestos-containing waste material) generated by the renovation project in leak-tight containers."