Clapper, Patti, Schweizer and Mason

According to a recent report from the Associated Press, the residents in and around Libby, Montana may be facing yet another asbestos crisis from the former W.R. Grace & Co. mine.  Asbestos tainted vermiculite has been blamed for 400 death and over 1,750 illnesses since the mill shut down nearly twenty years ago.  However, officials from the United States government have discovered that rain water and snow melt runoff passing through the contaminated mine has been travelling downstream for years.  Vermiculite has been found in water samples and soil samples in and around several small tributaries of the Kootenai River.

W.R. Grace & Co. owned and operated a vermiculite mining and processing operation in Libby, Montana for decades.  The mine was forced to close after the controversy surrounding the health risks associated with the operation became too overwhelming to overlook.  Hundreds of people nationwide became ill after being exposed to asbestos brought to the surface from the depths of the mine.  Integrated within the vermiculite particulates, the asbestos found its way into insulation and shipped all over the United States and Canada by rail.  The most common illness associated with the Libby mine is mesothelioma – a deadly type of cancer caused by the inhalation or ingestion of asbestos fibers.  However, other forms of cancer and lung diseases such as asbestosis have been associated with the operation.

Federal officials have recently opened a dialog with the owners of the mine in order to find a financially viable way to provide a more thorough cleanup of the area after tainted vermiculite was found in the Kootenai River.  It’s unclear just how far these small tributaries carry the contaminants but it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to stop them.

Further testing is underway to determine the extent of this environmental hazard and just what risks (to the human and animal population) might be associated with the toxins.  Some of those tests show significant amounts of vermiculite in sand bars and along the shores of certain tributaries and water samples during peak runoff season have shown levels multiple times higher than allowed by law.  Project manager for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Libby operation, Christina Progess, said that the EPA is “still looking to acquire data to tell us what the risks would be at the concentrations that we're seeing."

One particularly disturbing water sample showed 276 million asbestos fibers per liter of water, an extremely alarming figure.  However, tests of groundwater further away showed no asbestos contamination.

Meanwhile, residents of the surrounding area have yet another reason to live in fear for their health and wellbeing.  Various agencies have already spent well over $370 million in the past 10 years to mitigate some of the danger from the Libby mine and this new discovery may up the cost and, unfortunately, the duration of the cleanup considerably. 

While none of the drinking water for Libby and the surrounding towns comes from the contaminated tributaries, the health risk is still very real.  It could pose huge problems for those living in the path from the mine to the sea and cripple the recreation use of a large swath of wetland in Montana.