Asbestos bill action delayed by plane scare

By Ted A. Knutson and Paul Deckelman

Washington, May 11 - Senate Judiciary Committee action on the $140 billion asbestos trust fund bill, the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act, S. 852, was delayed after the committee failed to reconvene Wednesday following the inadvertent entry of a private plane into restricted airspace around the nation's capital.

All Congressional offices, including the Judiciary Committee's hearing room, were evacuated by the scare.

Before the evacuation, Owens Corning bonds were up a point or two to 77-79 in anticipation of committee approval of the bill, which would set up a privately financed trust fund asbestos that victims could tap instead of suing for compensation.

On Thursday, asbestos bill co-sponsor Sen. Diane Feinstein, D.-Calif., is expected to introduce an amendment to require the amount of money that each asbestos-linked company and insurer affected be published in the Federal Register 60 days before the fund would be activated.

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