A local firm has offered to take 165 containers of asbestos from Bermuda and put them in an American landfill, but Government has yet to act on the offer, the man behind the plan said yesterday.

Bermudian Michael Marshall, managing director of Caicos Cargo Ltd. in the Turks and Caicos Islands, said the current furore over dumping could have been avoided had Government accepted his firm's bid.

In the deal -- which he claims is within Government's price range -- he would form a company, Bermuda Waste Management Systems, with local businessman Dennis Pamplin.

The company would then try to get permission from Government to use some of the old buildings at Marginal Wharf to repackage the waste before transporting it to a Charleston, North Carolina landfill.

But Government has not responded to the proposal, Mr. Marshall said, even though it was submitted in May, 1996.

"We basically put a proposal to Pam Gordon and to the Minister of Public Works through Bob Woodword,'' he said. "And we sent them all the pertinent information which was all certified and approved.

"They have not even given us the courtesy of a reply ... we would be working with US Waste which is one of the largest companies in the United States and one of the closest ones with a landfill, which is only 700 miles from Bermuda.'' But Environment Minister Pam Gordon said she told Mr. Marshall Government wouldn't be interested unless he could get an indemnity absolving the Island of any future responsibility for the material.

"The ball is in their court,'' she said.

Mr. Marshall said the containers would have to be reopened and repackaged to ensure there were no contaminants.

"Anything that is in that container has to be documented and approved as asbestos land product,'' he said. "Anything else cannot be put in the landfill.'' Asbestos offer From Page 1 Mr. Marshall could not understand why Government had not responded.

"Our company would be a joint venture with Dennis Pamplin who happens to be Environment Minister Pam Gordon's brother-in-law. We are prepared to go a stage further and encase the asbestos in concrete.

"There is a lot more asbestos still in buildings on the island which will have to be disposed. We, if we were allowed to set up our facility, would be able to receive all the asbestos, put it on special trucks so that containers would not have to be used.

"The asbestos would be processed in an encasement room which would create concrete cubes with the asbestos encased in it to be used as landfill. We would be prepared to do that but the Government has to pay for the service.

"But it seems to me that they have already made up their minds that they are going to dump it in the sea. They have avoided the issue. Our company would be 90 percent Bermudian with qualifications in this area.'' Ms Gordon said, "They spoke to me and I was very clear and very honest with them and I told them that they had to be able secure an indemnity for the Bermuda Government which exempts us from any liability.

"They were not able to give us that which brought us back to square one. I told them the only way Government would even consider it is if they could guarantee us that there would be no liability.'' "In actual fact the ball is in their court,'' she continued. "While they may not have received an official response from Government I have spoken to both gentlemen and explained what the requirements are.

"The crucial issue is this indemnity. Right now if we were to send it overseas we would have to have an open ended insurance policy which would be major bucks every single year forever. And that is frightening. If anyone gets sick we could be part of a class action suit which would be a double whammy.''