Mesothelioma Risk Reduction: Asbestos Cleanup Underway at Montana Golf Course

Work crews garbed in white protective suits and filtered breathing masks are digging up substantial amounts of topsoil polluted with the mineral vermiculite from part of a golf course near the small town of Libby, Montana. While the older portion of the course is undergoing an extensive decontamination operation, investigators have not detected any problems on the newer part of the course at the Cabinet View Country Club.

The town of Libby is best known for the vermiculite mines once owned by W.R. Grace and Co., and the attendant asbestos exposure problems that occurred with the miners who had worked there for decades. After more than two hundred miners were diagnosed with mesothelioma and other lung problems, the Environmental Protection Agency called for the mine to be shut down. The EPA Superfund has been conducting asbestos cleanup operations around the town since 2000 and has spent more than $120 million in those efforts. EPA officials estimate that the costs for the remediation and restoration of the golf course may take up to $2 million alone.

Gene Chappell, the Chairman of the Board at Cabinet View, said that the cleanup project is going well and is exceeding their expectations. He credited the planning and foresight of the cleanup crews for what he believes will be a rapid turnaround in getting the older portion of the course ready for play. He expects that the cleanup crews will have completed their work by the end of the year and that the course will be restored to playing condition by next spring.

Victor Ketellapper, the director for the EPA's Libby Asbestos Superfund Site, said that most of the vermiculite contamination was below the surface of the course, thus the main concern was for work crews who may have been exposed during the digging operations. The work, according to Mr. Ketellapper, focused on the tee boxes and greens surfaces on the front nine holes. He also mentioned that, while the Superfund monies would cover the excavation, cleanup and restoration of the course to its original condition, Cabinet View would cover any foreseeable costs in improving the course.

EPA official Mike Cirian said that work crews would take all necessary precautions, not only to avoid exposure for themselves, but also to prevent any potential exposure to players and visitors. During the excavation process, the soil will be soaked with water to prevent any airborne asbestos particles from escaping and causing future problems. Also, all of the contaminated topsoil and subsoil will be moved back to one of the original vermiculite mine sites, which the EPA has previously designated as a Superfund site.

After the cleanup and restoration work is completed on the course, the club plans to remodel the front nine holes to meet with PGA specifications. The modernization plans include improving the greens on the restored holes to present-day standards. No plans are currently in place to excavate or remodel the final nine holes of the course, as club members await the results of the restoration project.

Sources: Billings Gazette, KTVQ

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