WR Grace to pay for Libby, MT asbestos clean up
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 10:16AM In news from last week, the EPA announced on March 12, 2008 that WR Grace had agreed to pay $250 million to the EPA to fund the clean up of the town of Libby, MT., one of the most notorious environmental disasters of the last 25 years. You can read the entire AP news wire report by clicking here.
" Taxpayers have been footing the bill for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's investigative and cleanup work in Libby, where the agency arrived in 1999. Expenses total $168 million and another $175 million in costs are likely, said Paul Peronard, EPA's Libby project leader. Sen. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, called $250 million "a drop in the bucket compared to the destruction and pain our neighbors in Libby have been through."
Asbestos came from the
vermiculite mine and processing facilities, a few miles from Libby,
that Grace owned and operated from 1963 until the site's closure in
1990. Vermiculite was used in a variety of products and the asbestos
was dispersed in a variety of ways. Workers carried it home on
their clothing. Asbestos also ended up in the yards of homes where
vermiculite was spread as a soil conditioner. Exposure in Libby has
been blamed for lung-scarring asbestosis and for mesothelioma, a
fast-moving cancer that attacks the lungs. "
While notable for it's amount and the fact that at long last some measure of compensation and justice for the residents of the small Montana mining community is on the horizon, the facts of the Libby case and what still lies ahead really isn't discussed in great detail in any of the news reports. For perspective on what happened at Libby, the nature of this environmental and public health disaster we have turned to LBN's Jan Schlichtmann, one of the nations leading environmental lawyers to discuss the case.
Reader Comments (6)
What I'm writing about is my own town. Last fall we received note cards in the mail stating my house and my neighbors (roughly 100 without counting) have all been exposed to Trichlorethelene vapors. We eventually were contacted that an EPA study would come and test our homes for the toxic levels of this and two other vapors in our homes. We live in site B, the other site A has shown to be closer to the contamination source.
I have so much information to give I don't know where to begin. I started here with that note in the mail. We've had two public meetings, which seemed to be of little consequence toward gaining useful information. That is, whether the EPA could prove their selected level of the toxic vapors is actually safe. My experience is that it was too toxic for me. I cannot prove it, because that's the nature of this beast, but I have been seriously ill with sinus infections, flu-like symptoms, serious aches and pain, and this past Spring I had pneumonia.
In Minnesota where I live, we are virtually shut up in our homes for 4-6 months. The episodes of sickness for the past 4 years have coincided with Jan. -Mar., which are within the Shut-in time-frame. We were not told about this until last fall and none of us had any information about symptoms. Yet, when testing time came around in Jan. and Feb. I had a sinus infection, followed immediately by pneumonia. My condition was given unsolicited concern by members of the EPA testing team. This doesn't surprise me now, and I am very concerned about the effects of TCE.
After testing our homes for the toxic vapor, we were given a choice to accept remediation or continued tests for some years to come. It was in the EPA's interest financially and health for myself, my wife, and our newest member born into our family 3 yrs ago, that I accept remediation. We now have a vacuum system sucking the toxic vapor out of our sub-slab soil and into the air above our home and the homes of about 6 or 7 other neighbors on my block. Some apparently have no cause for any concern.
The soil engineer for the EPA has three times told me that this is caused by soil and subterranean water conditions. I have enough education to understand him, but it is highly suspect that alone plays a role. I'm concerned for unremediated neighbors, our health and our property values. It has been told to us that we should and must tell prospective buyers of this condition. Who would hide such a thing?! Don't answer that, we bought this home from such people; who didn't tell us of the vermiculite in our attic insulation, nor the asbestos tape wrapping our ducts and furnace piping.
I just saw the movie about Grace and the TCE contamination from the movie "A Civil Action".
That prompted me to find Jan Schlictman's experience online. Thus far this is my first attempt to state anything about my TCE experience publicly. I don't like doing this as I believe I know which company is the source of our contamination. I have a neighbor witness who told me how they used TCE everyday. She's quite aged, and I'm afraid not willing to do anything about it civilly, but I would ask her if need be.
Sheesh, as if this were anything but rambling on the net.
We look at the same moon and stars, breath the same air, love, live and die.