Personal Injury Law

EPA To Clean Up Libby, Montana

By asbestoshub

In June 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency declared Libby, Montana a federal public health emergency, vowing to finally finish a cleanup that has languished for nearly a decade, pledging at least $125 million to speed the work of going door-to-door, raising tents over contaminated homes, removing contaminated soil and vacuuming out attics and any other surface once contaminated by miners returning from work.

The initiative has thus far been met with stoicism by local residents; many of whom have endured the presence of asbestos in their midst for as long as they can remember.   For over 70 years, ore was brought to processing plants in Libby, where a smokestack released up to 24,000 pounds of dust a day. Waste from the asbestos mine, known as tailings, was used to line an elementary school skating rink and to build running tracks at local junior high and high schools.

In creating Zonolite insulation from vermiculite, W.R. Grace contanimated the town of Libby, causing hundreds to die.  Libby, Montana and its population of 2,600 residents, suffers more than double the national average in its rate of death from asbestosis. Lung-cancer mortality is 30 percent higher than health officials would expect the town to experience.

In a recent trial, federal prosecutors detailed the extent of the health problems and the number of deaths blamed on asbestos from mine owner W.R. Grace & Co. and former executives. All were acquitted of knowingly allowing residents of Libby to be exposed to asbestos.

W.R. Grace insisted that after the mine was closed in the 1990’s, it acted responsibly to clean up the contamination, paying millions in medical bills for residents of Libby and Troy and agreed last year to pay $250 million to reimburse the EPA for cleanup efforts.

The EPA has already removed contaminants from more than 1,100 homes in Libby at a rate of abouto 150 properties per year.

Homeowners must agree to have their residence decontaminated, said Michael Cirian, who runs the local EPA office. The owners of some 800 homes have so far either refused the decontamination or couldn’t be located by EPA, he said.

When the EPA has permission to clean a home, they put a plastic tent over the building and workers in asbestos abatement uniforms with respirators vacuum dust from the attic and all the crevices. They also dig up the front and back yard to remove asbestos outside.

The Health and Human Services Department also said it would spend an additional $6 million on medical assistance for residents suffering from asbestos-related illnesses.

Money for medical care is key, said former mayor Tony Berget. Libby is a remote town, and many people haven’t had a lot of money for health problems, he said.

Full post as published by Asbestos HUB on June 21, 2009 (boomark / email).