EPA Press Release Alerts to Libby, Montana Health Emergency

On June 17, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, issued a press release declaring the Libby, Montana asbestos site a public health emergency.

This, just two days after the final W.R. Grace defendant, O. Mario Favorito, was dismissed and the Grace trial - initiated by a 2005 federal grand jury - wrapped up with no convictions on any of the charges, which included violations of the federal Clean Air Act and obstructing the course of justice. Grace operated the Libby Mine from 1963 to 1990.

According to the EPA, this most recent declaration of the health hazard in Libby is the first time the agency has made a determination under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) to declare a site a public health emergency. This act, which instituted a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries, can be used to allocate the funds collected to accelerate cleanup of hazardous waste sites.

The announcement, made at a joint press conference including EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and U.S. Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Jon Tester (D-MT), the senior and junior senators of that state, notes that hundreds of asbestos-related diseases have been recorded in the small Montana town and adjacent Troy.

According to the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry (ATSDR), operated through the Centers for Disease Control, or CDC, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the rate of asbestosis in the Libby area is "staggeringly" higher than the national average, based on disease tracking statistics from 1979 through 1998.

Said agencies have promised to provide short-term grant funding to address the immediate issue of much-needed medical care for area residents, which Jackson describes as a "tragic public health situation" ignored by the federal government for "far too long". The HHS grant will deliver immediate medical assistance in the form of screening for asbestos-related disease, as well as other diagnostic services, and will also provide treatment through Lincoln County health officials.

It is perhaps a case of too little, too late, but Baucus - who has been seeking public health emergency designation for decades, calls the decision "a great day for Libby".

The program will be operated under the joint auspices of the CDC and the Health Resources and Services Administration, both HHS agencies, and the funding is expected to be allocated by August.

Libby Mine and adjacent areas have been on the EPA's Superfund list since 2002, with actual cleanup starting in 2000, but much remains to be done and the CERCLA designation fast-tracks that cleanup.

In 2008, W.R. Grace settled a lawsuit by agreeing to pay $250 million; the EPA estimates the total cost of cleaning up the area and providing medical care could be as high as $350 million. The immediate relief grant is targeted at $6 million, or about four percent of the Grace settlement.

Asbestos is a naturally-occurring mineral with a crystalline or needle-like shape commonly found in rock formations. It occurs as six different types: tremolite, actinolite, anthophyllite, chrysotile, amosite and crocidolite. The asbestos types from the Libby Mine were tremolite and actinolite. Asbestos, once breathed or ingested, remains in the lungs or digestive tract for life, resulting in diseases like asbestosis - best described as a debilitating respiratory disorder - and cancers. The most notable, and lethal, cancer is mesothelioma, which lies dormant for decades before being diagnosed. Most patients die within a year of diagnosis, though a few individuals have been known to survive for up to five years.

Sources: MSNBC, EPA

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