W.R. Grace & Co. pays $250 million settlement in asbestos case

W.R. Grace & Co. has proposed to pay the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a $250 million settlement, the largest-ever payment to the organization’s Superfund program.

According to Community Involvement Coordinator Ted Linnert, the EPA intends to spend the majority of the settlement money on future cleanup projects, site-specific investigations, operations and maintenance. He corrected the Justice Department’s Tuesday press release which stated that Grace was reimbursing the federal government for cleanup work already performed in Libby.

A portion of the settlement, $11 million, will be placed into an interest-bearing account which can’t be tapped until 2017. The fund, expected to grow to $30 million by that time, will be used to help the state pay for operation and maintenance.

A separate account will be set up for the remaining $239 million, which will be used to pay for future costs until cleanup in Libby is finished. Any money leftover once everything is completed will be absorbed by the general Superfund.

The EPA has been doing asbestos removal work on contaminated soil and other materials in Libby since May of 2000, spending to date a total of $163 million. Asbestos contamination was discovered at the W.R. Grace & Co. Libby site in the prior November.

The Associated Press has learned from the EPA that cleanup work has been completed on 954 properties out of the 1,404 properties on their list. However, the organization is concerned over roughly 700 properties that have been identified as contaminated but do not meet requirements for asbestos removal.

A meeting has been set up by the Libby Technical Advisory Group on March 18 to discuss the proposed settlement. The public is invited to attend and express their opinions or send in comments by mail.

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