On June 17th the US EPA declared a public health emergency in the town of Libby, Montana relating to asbestos contamination from vermiculite mining and processing operations conducted by the WR Grace Company. The Obama administration has committed $131 million toward clean-up actions including residential-home clean up in the communities of Libby and neighboring Troy, Montana. This is the first time the EPA has declared a public health emergency using environmental regulation under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as the Superfund.
A Little Background on Libby, Mining and Recent Actions Taken to Mitigate Asbestos Contamination in Libby
Vermiculite was first discovered in Libby in 1881 by gold miners; in the 1920s the Zonolite Company formed and began mining the vermiculite. In 1963, W.R. Grace purchased mining operations from the Zonolite Company and continued to mine and process vermiculite in Libby until closing the mine in 1990. It is estimated that the Libby mine may have produced and processed 80% of the world's supply of vermiculite at the height of its operation. The vermiculite from the Libby mine was primarily used for insulation in homes, as an insulating/fireproofing admixture to concrete, and as a soil conditioner. Unfortunately, vermiculite extracted from the Libby mine was also contaminated with a toxic form of naturally occurring asbestos known as amphibole tremolite.
In 1999 the EPA came to Libby in response to local concerns due to recent media attention to the potential for asbestos contamination from vermiculite mining and processing. EPA took soil and air samples and also tested insulation and indoor air in residential homes. EPA also began monitoring the health of people who had not worked for mining or processing operations and examined risks associated with non-occupational exposure to asbestos.
In 2001 Governor Martz used the "Silver Bullet" option to list the Libby site on the NPL. "The Silver Bullet" is a one-time opportunity for states to bypass the normal Superfund listing process in order to have hazardous-waste sites placed on the NPL with hopes of expediting remediation actions. The Libby site was quickly listed on the NPL and was to be declared a health emergency in 2002 by then EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman. However, Ms. Whitman was overruled by the Whitehouse.
EPA returned to Libby in 2003 to conduct additional soil, air and residential in-door air and material sampling. "Approximately 3,500 properties were inspected in 2002 and 2003. Over 12,000 soil samples were collected and analyzed ..." (EPA Region 8). As of April this year, EPA has excavated over "600,000 cubic yards of asbestos-contaminated waste from major source areas and structures. Contaminated soils were transported to the Grace Mine site" (where I hope they were placed in a lined repository and then capped!) "and contaminated construction debris is placed in a specially designed landfill cell at the Lincoln County Landfill." Recently cleanup efforts in Libby have been directed toward residential and business area cleanup. By the end of 2008, EPA had cleaned up over 1,100 residences and commercial properties. In 2009, EPA will transition from emergency Removal Activity to the Remedial Process. (EPA Region 8)
Asbestos is Nasty Stuff
Health risks associated with chronic exposure to asbestos include asbestosis and mesothelioma. Asbestosis is a condition that shows itself in stiffening and scarring of the lungs and damage to aveoli and eventually results in severely decreased lung capacity and function. Mesothelioma an extremely rare form of cancer that most commonly affects the outer lining of the lungs and internal chest wall, called the Pleura. Mesothelioma is most commonly associated with chronic exposure to asbestos fibers. There is no direct link between Mesothelioma and smoking; however, smoking is considered to be an aggressive catalyst for Mesothelioma when other risk factors are present. Like chronic exposure to asbestos fibers, for example.
Hundreds of people in Libby, former mine workers, their families, and other residents have shown symptoms of asbestos-related diseases. The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) conducted medical testing for Libby residents and found that mortality in Libby from asbestosis was 40 to 80 times higher than expected. ATSDR also observed abnormalities in the Pleura of 18% of all participants and that mortality from lung cancer was 20% to 30% higher than expected. A mortality study at the Center for Asbestos Related Disease in Libby has identified 227 deaths from asbestos disease, and lists more than 1,800 active cases resulting from exposure to asbestos. The study also attributes several deaths to non-occupational asbestos exposures, finding that 77 people who never worked at Grace's mine in Libby have also died of asbestos-related disease since 1998.
Mesothelioma is considered to be treatable with surgery and chemotherapy; however, survival rates are low, and the individual’s quality of life is significantly changed. There is no treatment for asbestosis with sufferers often confined to a breathing-assist device.
Asbestos contamination from mining operations was widespread in Libby. Asbestos was not only found in industrial areas associated with mining, it was also found in the homes of workers. During the height of mining operations, dust from the mine covered cars and buildings and often covered the town in a haze. It is thought that asbestos was introduced to Troy by workers transporting it home on their clothing as well as trucks transporting vermiculite from Libby using uncovered trailers as they passed through Troy along the highway. In Libby, residents used vermiculite mulch in their gardens, vermiculite was used to surface running tracks at schools, and miners brought it home on their clothing, thereby exposing their families. Asbestos was even found in tree bark samples taken around Libby.
WR Grace executives on Trial
WR Grace was indicted in 2005 on charges of conspiracy to defraud the government as well as knowingly endangering the health of the residents of Libby over a 30-year period from 1963 to 1990. During the company's three-month trial, prosecutors argued that its executives knowingly allowed asbestos to contaminate the community and then tried to hide the danger from the community despite having direct evidence that asbestos carried a human health hazard. Grace has always admitted (or at least never denied) that asbestos contamination in Libby came from the mine; however, it has firmly denied implications of covering up data regarding risks to human health. Additionally, Grace has maintained that they have acted appropriately and responsibly to take measures to clean up asbestos contamination in Libby. In March 2008, EPA received a $250,000,000 settlement from Grace to cover future cleanup costs at Libby, the largest civil cash settlement in Superfund history. However, this settlement will be decided in court as Grace declared bankruptcy in 2001 in response to mounting claims from asbestos-related cases. (Note that Grace had over $3 Billion in sales last year).
However, in June of 2009, WR Grace and three individual executives (Robert Bettacchi, Jack Wolter and Henry Eschenbach) were acquitted of conspiracy to avoid provisions under the Clean Air Act and obstruction of justice. After deliberating one full day, the jurors unanimously acquitted Grace and the three former executives, ending the largest environmental crimes prosecution in United States history, and the first trail to bring criminal charges against individuals for violations of environmental legislation.
The prosecution faced an uphill battle from the beginning. Among other things the presiding judge was considered to be "hostile" to the validity of the prosecutions case.
In earlier statements to prosecutors, presiding Judge Molloy said the tragedy in Libby, while devastating, is not a matter of criminal culpability by the company, and on Friday the jury unanimously agreed. (Missoulian)
The jury had the difficult task of evaluating 35 days of evidence and testimony, as well as determining whether or not the crimes that WR Grace was alleged to have committed were even applicable at the time they occurred. The criminal provision of the Clean Air Act (CAA) wasn't enacted until 1990, the same year the Libby mine ceased operations.
Defense lawyers claimed that the evidence brought forward by prosecution did not support the charges and accused the prosecution of selectively picking "from 15 to 25 documents out of two-and-a-half million" (Missoulian) documents that supported their case, presenting only a small picture of what the relationship was between Grace, Libby and the victims. Defense lawyers arguing that Grace executives did all in their power to protect employees and citizens of Libby and Troy from the dangers associated with mining, processing and transport of asbestos, based upon the science and information they had available.
During the criminal trial legal experts expressed their doubt that the government would have a favorable outcome given the difficulty of "burden of proof" in this case, the limited evidence the prosecution was bringing to trial, and the potential hostility of the district court.
Meanwhile, outside the courthouse former Grace employee Mike Crill, a former Libby:
"What did they die for? What am I dying for?" Crill sobbed. "They are guilty of killing us." (Missoulian)
Mr. Crill is battling health problems due to chronic exposure to asbestos dust.
What I find most compelling about this case is the fact that a company was on trial in criminal court to determine whether or not it was accountable for committing actions that affected the health of the citizens of Libby and Troy. Before being acquitted, the executives of Grace were acutely aware of the fact that they could have faced lengthy terms in jail if they were found guilty of fraud and endangerment while serving as senior executives of WR Grace.
Will the fact that executives of a very large and powerful corporation were on trial for environmental crimes have any impact on the actions of other companies to act in a more responsible way regarding the environment and public health? I believe that executives of other companies could have been brought to charge for their actions (and probably should have happened) at a number of locations. Anniston, Alabama; Love Canal; Deer Park, Texas; Bhopal, India to name a few.
In response to this commitment by the Obama administration to the long term Health of Libby and Troy, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson is quoted as saying:
"This is a tragic public health situation that has not received the recognition it deserves by the federal government for far too long"
Many thanks to Obama for intervening and trying to do what is right for the people of Libby and Troy.
Here's a link to the NPL:
http://www.epa.gov/...
Sources:
The Missoulian (June, 17th 2009)
The Billings Gazette (June 18th, 2009)
CNN (June 17th, 2009)
US EPA Region 8 (search under Libby)
Wikipedia