Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/884685
22 With the political pressure on the appropriators to avoid any increase in the total appropriations request, my $7.5 million first phase budget was passed separately as an emergency appropriation for the 1999 fiscal year. This allowed us to competitively bid and award the paint removal contract by the end of 1998 to the Aulson Company and begin actual work in the spring. PHASE onE BEGInS By June of 1999, two shifts of nine safety-suited workers from our new contractor were working 20 hours each day to remove 88 tons of lead-based paint from the surfaces between the inner and outer domes. They accessed the Dome using scaffolding set up in their East Front staging area between the northern Sen- ate and Rotunda monumental stairways. I authorized the shipment of all 88 tons of lead-based paint to Exide Battery Company in Indiana to be recycled for use in new car batteries. This was an environmentally sen- sitive way to avoid disposal problems and potential superfund issues. The Aulson team used air-powered blasters and needle guns on the inner surface of the outer Dome. We used less invasive, vibration-free, citrus-based chemi- cals and hand scraping on the inner canopy in order to avoid negatively impacting Constantino Brumidi's mas- terful fresco, the Apotheosis of Washington, painted on the Rotunda side of that surface. Some of the 21 layers of paint applied to the Dome since its initial construction included as much as 30% lead. We placed the area under a negative air pressure with strong filtration systems to assure that lead was not released into the air. Air monitors placed throughout the work area and the Rotunda below were checked daily by our industrial hygienist to assure worker and visitor safety. No elevated lead readings were detected during the course of the project, nor did we have any noise com- plaints since the most disruptive work was performed in off-hours when Congress was not in session. This work allowed us to inspect the cast iron surfaces in order to identify and document all existing problems, some of which dated back to the original completion of the Dome. We blasted the paint off each area of cast iron with needle guns and absorbent sponge particles impregnated with aluminum oxide. The surfaces were then thoroughly inspected for cracks and deteriorated connections, and a new base primer coat was immedi- ately applied to prevent the bare cast-iron from quickly beginning to rust. This was a lesson learned the morn- ing after the first small areas had been cleared of old paint. Upon inspection, they had begun rusting, turning orange overnight. We designed a donut-shaped multi-layered protective netting to hang beneath the inner dome to protect Con- gress, staff, and visitors in the Rotunda below from the ongoing work while retaining the view of the Apotheo- sis of Washington. Our team also gathered multi-lay- ered paint samples of the coffered Dome to be analyzed for its future restoration and repainting (fig. 11). Working with our consultants we produced a com- prehensive five-volume report with drawings detail- ing the nature and location of the 1,300 cracks and problem areas, and recommended a series of method- ologies to address those problems. PHASE TWo DElAyED Upon completion and submission of the master plan to the Congress, I requested funding for phase two in the 2000 AOC budget. But by that time the CVC was under design and would soon be ready to go out for bids. The murders of Police Officer J.J. Chestnut and Detective John Gibson on 18 July 1998 had spurred funding for the CVC, with $100 million appropriated four months later. My second phase of the Dome budget request was denied. Congressional leadership determined that two major concurrent Capitol projects would cause too much of a disruption to the day-to-day workings of the Congress. The second phase of the Dome project would therefore have to be deferred until after the completion of the CVC. I spent sleepless nights with visions of chunks of cast iron cascading down the surface of the Dome. It was a true life-safety issue. The only thing holding the railing together at the crown of the Dome was the rust itself, and the rust could yield to the forces of gravity at any time. A greater risk than gravity was the pressure placed on the Tholos-level railing by members and their visitors leaning on it as they enjoyed the 360-degree panoramic view of the city. Major sections of the rail- ing 11 were slated to be repaired or recast during Phase Two work. Because I was not permitted to suspend the Members' tours of the Dome, we constructed a wooden railing inside the perimeter of the cast iron THE CAPITOL DOME