MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — The University of Montana has reopened McGill Hall after officials detected "unacceptable levels" of asbestos in dust inside the building.
The Missoulian reports the building, which features a media arts lab, a preschool and a child care facility, was reopened Monday for the first time since Jan. 29.
Since then, university officials say the campus has incurred about $200,000 in cleanup costs related to asbestos, and 43 people have filed workers' compensation claims.
Air tests the university ordered and posted on its website show no detectable levels of the carcinogen in the building.
But parents of preschoolers have worried about times when the air might not have been safe to breathe given the high levels of asbestos that accumulated on surface dust. Some tests showed fibers 80 times higher than a federal cleanup threshold.