Montana Wants Guarantee from EPA on Asbestos Cleanup
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010On February 23, 2009, opening statements were scheduled in the case of U.S. vs. W.R. Grace and Co. and five of its executives, who are charged with knowingly exposing the residents of the small town of Libby, Montana to asbestos. On, March 23, 2009, a former W.R. Grace & Co. employee testified that he warned supervisors of asbestos hazards in 1976, when studies illustrated consumer products were emitting high concentrations of the dangerous fibers. “I felt there was a train wreck occurring and I wanted to tell my boss,” said Robert Locke, a longtime Grace employee who was fired from the company in 1998.
Montana’s congressional delegation is seeking assurances from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that the government will not leave the asbestos-contaminated town of Libby before its cleanup is complete, according to a recent Associated Press news report.
Health workers say at least 400 people have died in rural Libby from contamination caused by a now-closed W.R. Grace vermiculite mine. The EPA in May finalized its cleanup strategy for the first two of eight contaminated areas, including a town park. Some Libby residents and local elected leaders fear the EPA is rushing to finish its work, leaving the town at risk.
U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester and Rep. Denny Rehberg have asked the EPA to clarify its plans for the 3,000-person town. In separate letters sent in recent weeks, the lawmakers prodded the EPA to complete a long-delayed study of Libby asbestos.
They also wanted the EPA’s pledge to return to areas already cleaned if the study shows the health danger is worse than previously thought.
More than a decade after the EPA arrived in Libby on the heels of news reports about widespread health problems, regulators still are uncertain just how toxic the asbestos is to humans. A risk assessment meant to answer that question is not expected to be finalized for another five years, according to correspondence between the agency and Baucus.
“In some ways we’re in the same spot we’ve been for years,” Baucus told EPA officials during a recent hearing before a subcommittee of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
A June report by the Government Accountability Office listed Libby as one of 75 Superfund sites across the United States with health risks that are considered unacceptable. For Libby, that public danger is expected to last through at least 2015.
EPA officials acknowledge the health crisis in Libby has at times overwhelmed the government as the scope of contamination and number of victims has grown.
Asbestos-laced vermiculite was used as insulation in hundreds of Libby houses and businesses and tilled into backyard gardens. Decades of activity at the Grace mine produced so much dust that hazardous asbestos is now embedded in the barks of trees that cover the surrounding mountains
