Mad Libby

EPA talked out of declaring public-health emergency in asbestos-ridden town

Posted at 5:09 PM on 03 Oct 2008

A public-health emergency has never been declared in Libby, Mont., where asbestos exposure from vermiculite mining has killed 200 people and sickened more than 1,000 more. But documents and emails obtained recently by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) show that in 2002, the U.S. EPA was primed to declare such an emergency -- before being talked out of it by top-level officials at the Office of Management and Budget. A public-health emergency declaration would have authorized extensive cleanup and increased health services in Libby, which the feds feared might -- gasp! -- encourage other asbestos-ridden places to demand the same. Libby has been declared a Superfund site, and vermiculite miner W.R. Grace will pay Superfund cleanup costs, but the effects of asbestos contamination still linger. Baucus is "not going to rest" until a public-health emergency is called: "It's a huge disrespect for the law and it's a bigger disrespect for the people of Libby," he says. "It's hard to even fathom."

source: Flathead Beacon
see also, in Grist: EPA refuses to warn homeowners about asbestos exposure from insulation

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Comments: (6 comments)

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While I sympathize...

...I also can't help but wonder who in their right minds would want to live inside a known superfund site to begin with...particularly one that's been proven to still sicken people.

It's like the bakas who decide to stay in their one-story homes when there's a hurricane approachin' and they've been told to leave.

Not that we shouldn't help 'em, but when they stay behind in a disaster zone of they're own will, they're not exactly "innocent" victims.

by Tasermons Partner at 1:28 PM on 04 Oct 2008

They don't move because...

they're too poor, or they've lived in Libby their entire lives, or they don't have skills useful in another economy, or they are running a business, or enjoy the beauty of that part of Montana (and it is spectacular)...or they believe that WR dis-Grace and the various local, state, and federal officials complicit in allowing this disaster to occur in the first place should step up and return this town to its pre-mine state. For an informative read, check out the book "An Air That Kills," by Schneider and McCumber.

by guade00 at 3:00 PM on 04 Oct 2008

It's a mining town...

...and while that doesn't mean that they any less deserving of help, it does mean that they should've seen this coming.

Mining is dirty, and because it's mining, that means it's a mineral(s), and thus is non-renewable.

Which means eventually it'll run out.

It always just frustrates me how these towns know that mining is a dirty operation and that it won't last forever, but they completely ignore those facts until it gets so bad or until the mines close down.

They don't think ahead, have little foresight, never wonder 'bout what'll happen to the town once the mines close.

They never take any measures to prevent the actions from occurin'.

And when it finally does happen, then they feel frustrated and start to complain.

Funny how they usually don't complain when they benefitted from it before.

I'm not sayin' they don't deserve help. All I'm sayin' is that a whole lot less of the towns would need as much help if they'd thought ahead and tried to help themselves to begin with.

by Tasermons Partner at 4:09 PM on 04 Oct 2008

It's a logging town . . .

. . . and the mine closed down 18 years ago. The economy doesn't depend on mining.

And no, dying of asbestosis is not something that they "should've seen coming." They were repeatedly lied to.

by cce at 10:30 AM on 05 Oct 2008

Are public secrets lies?...

And no, dying of asbestosis is not something that they "should've seen coming." They were repeatedly lied to.

The town had been mining vermiculite since the 1920s. And almost right afterwards, people started to get sick. The mine worked without any environmental or industrial regulations til the 1960s (did they think there was nothin' wrong?). And even after that, it was common knowledge in the town that people regularly faced health problems that were less common outside the town. Hundreds reportedly died from it over the years.

Still, it was the town's main employer, so very few complained, and the ones that did got the run-around.

But the effects of the mine were common knowledge.

The only people who were truly duped were the millions who bought Zonolite insulation. They had little way of knowin' the adverse health effects.

by Tasermons Partner at 7:38 PM on 05 Oct 2008

complain?

I don't know what the complaining is all about - Can you not tell by now that the Epa's JOB is to protect the Government and NOT the people or the actual environment!!! They are dodoing their job as they are getting Paid to do. Get a copy of their Job description and read it if you do not believe me.

I tried to contain my self but I escaped.

by JohnS at 11:18 AM on 06 Oct 2008

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