The asbestos cleanup of Libby, Montana, is coming to a celebrated close.
Unfortunately, the impact of one of America’s worst man-made environmental disasters will continue.
The Environmental Protection Agency will soon bring closure to the 19-year, $600 million effort to right the wrongs created by the shuttered W.R. Grace and Co. vermiculite mine, which was contaminated with asbestos.
Once the lifeblood of the community, the mine also became a cold-hearted killer.
Although the mine was closed almost 30 years ago, health officials have since documented more than 400 deaths linked to asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma cancer, asbestosis and lung cancer.
More than 2,400 others, either current or former residents of Lincoln County, have been diagnosed after being screened at the Center for Asbestos-Related Disease clinic in Libby.
Revitalizing the City of Eagles
Libby, the self-proclaimed City of Eagles, looks ready to soar.
As part of the project, an estimated 8,100 properties throughout the surrounding county were inspected.
More than 2,600 cleanups were required and completed.
A million cubic yards of contaminated dirt and building materials were removed and replaced. Yards, homes, parks and businesses have all been decontaminated.
The EPA recently hailed the work and collaboration with city, county and state agencies that helped turn the cleanup into a redevelopment effort that included site reuse and environmental sustainability.
It includes the once-contaminated but now beautiful Riverfront Park, used for community celebrations, small and large gatherings, weddings, concerts and the annual Riverfront Blues Festival.
“This is an incredibly resilient community. I am honored to recognize those who have made a difference, especially throughout the Superfund redevelopment efforts,” Doug Benevento, EPA regional administrator said in recent press release. “As this cleanup draws to a close, we are here to thank organizations and community members for their hard work, perseverance and for envisioning a vibrant community.”
The Dying Will Continue
Although much of the asbestos is now gone, the slow-motion horror of this toxic mineral remains.
The long latency period (10 to 50 years) of asbestos-related diseases will be felt for decades more in Lincoln County, still home to the nation’s highest asbestos mortality rate.
Libby has the distinction today of being the EPA’s first Public Health Emergency resulting from an environmental disaster.
Miners who worked there were not the only casualties. The asbestos dust from the nearby processing plant traveled for miles, threatening the entire community.
Miners, for decades, brought the contaminants home on their work clothes. W.R. Grace & Company also distributed leftover vermiculite for use in playgrounds, gardens, recreation fields and backyards.
The fallout will continue. Despite the Superfund cleanup, the Center for Asbestos-Related Disease clinic remains busy today.
It will remain open and funded for many more years.
“We’ve come a long way,” Mike Cirian, the EPA’s Libby project manager the past 13 years, told the Montana Standard when asked about ending the cleanup. “It’s monumental. There is so much emotion tied to this. A lot of people now just want us gone.”
State Will Replace EPA in Recovery Efforts
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality is scheduled to replace the EPA and assume management of the Superfund site in January 2020. The EPA will remove Libby from the National Priorities List.
Of concern is the handling of properties where future discoveries may be made. Almost 700 properties were never inspected either because owners could not be reached or wouldn’t allow it.
Eventually, when those properties are sold, buyers may want an inspection.
EPA Efforts Were Unprecedented
As part of their conclusion to the project, the EPA produced a video promoting the work they have done.
It includes lifelong resident Gayla Benefield, whose parents and husband all died from asbestos-related diseases.
She, too, has been diagnosed with asbestos cancer. Benefield spends much of her day now on oxygen.
For decades, she has been a vocal critic of the vermiculite mining that caused such havoc in her town and to her family. Yet she also showed her appreciation for what the EPA has done, and the way this has ended.
“It went from an industrial pollution problem to a disaster,” she said. “But I have to commend the EPA. They hung in there. There were times it wasn’t nice, it was a little unpleasant, but they managed. The EPA has been here. We’ve identified the problem. We’ve addressed the problem and cleaned up the problem.”
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