Spokane Being Tested for Asbestos

As a result of the public health emergency declared in Libby, Montana in June, which resulted from former vermiculite mining, a Spokane (Washington) neighborhood is now undergoing asbestos testing.

Vermiculite can contain asbestos, a fibrous mineral that was widely used in insulative products, floor and ceiling tiles, tile glues and some caulking products up until 1989, when the U.S. Environmental Agency, or EPA, restricted its use to one percent by weight in any domestically manufactured product. The same stipulation does not apply to foreign products.

Asbestos fibers, when breathed or ingested, can cause a number of illnesses, including asbestosis, respiratory and digestive system cancers, and - most notably - mesothelioma, a cancer of the mesothelial lining of the chest and abdomen that commonly results in death within about a year of diagnosis.

The Spokane site, located near the intersection of Maple and Sharp Streets, used to be W.R. Grace's former Zonolite factory, which produced Zonolite insulation as well as inordinate amounts of dust. This asbestos-laden dust may then have settled into soils in the neighborhood.

The new testing relies on transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which is capable of creating images at a higher resolution than polarized light microscopy (PLM) owing to the smaller wavelength of electrons used. TEM can detect asbestos at ratios of 0.25 percent in samples, including soil. The TEM analysis also fulfills AHERA (Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act, 1986) and NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) guidelines. NIOSH operates under the Centers for Disease Control, an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The EPA is conducting the testing on this Spokane neighborhood, which, as the former Vermiculite Northwest factory, has a 22-year history of rail cars bringing in vermiculite, which was then baked in Vermiculite Northwest's industrial furnaces until it expanded into insulation. The factory was closed in 1973 when a whistleblower alerted EPA officials to high levels of asbestos dust and debris.

Similar testing was done in 2000, and again in 2001, using the PLM process (which detects asbestos at one percent of a sample), and the EPA at that time gave the neighborhood a clean bill of health. But the depth and accuracy of the new TEM method - and the recent furor in Libby - has the EPA wanting to be doubly sure there are no legacy effects from the former Libby insulation manufacturing process.

The information coming out of Libby, as the result of further examination, is also influencing the testing. The former standard, one percent of asbestos, was never a health-based standard according to the EPA, but new findings demonstrate that it may not even be an effective indicator of the potential dangers of asbestos.

Currently, the EPA is testing soils on nine residential locations near the former Vermiculite Northwest site, which was purchased by the Spokane County Department of Public Works after its closure and capped with asbestos.

The cost per residential lot is between $900 and $1,400, and results are expected by August. Depending on the results, the EPA may conduct more tests, such as testing county-owned property and taking air samples during such soil-disruptive activities as mowing, raking or shoveling dirt.

If results are positive, the neighborhood may earn Superfund designation, enabling funds collected by the EPA (primarily from the chemical and petroleum industries) to be disbursed for cleanup activities.

Sources: KXLY, Scientific Analysis Institute, The Spokesman Review

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