Clapper, Patti, Schweizer and Mason

Asbestos attorneys at Clapper, Patti, Schweizer & Mason have been watching the Libby episode with interest ever since the Seattle Post-Intelligencer revealed nine years ago that asbestos from the W.R. Grace Co. vermiculite mine was causing mesothelioma among Libby residents. Mesothelioma is a fatal cancer of the lung lining and takes years to develop into a painful, incurable disease. The mine was closed in 1990. Workers and neighbors of another 78 plants that processed Grace Co. vermiculite may also be at risk, according to the CDC report. Facilities at 36 states that processed vermiculite from Libby may have released asbestos into the air. The toxic dust may still linger in or near these facilities, which are now used for other purposes. Between 200 and 700 people at each of the most polluted facilities may be been exposed, according to a CDC spokesman. Present and former Grace executives face a federal lawsuit for apparently knowing of the risk and doing nothing about it. The criminal trial begins in February. For more information log on to www.propublica.org/article/health-officials-still-accounting-for-asbestos-mined-in-montana.