The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it is moving on to the next phase for the Libby Montana Asbestos Superfund Site, continuing with the largest, longest-running asbestos cleanup project in American history.

The EPA project began almost 17 years ago in Montana, stemming from seven decades of vermiculite mining that led to toxic asbestos contamination throughout the towns of Libby and nearby Troy.

Health officials believe the mines killed more than 400 Libby residents and sickened an estimated 3,000.

Asbestos exposure can lead to several serious illnesses, including asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma. The latency period between exposure and diagnosis of asbestos cancer is 20-50 years.

The asbestos cleanup price has exceeded $540 million and is expected to cost another $64 million before it is slated to be finished in 2018. The W.R. Grace & Company, which operated the mines from 1963 to 1990, was forced to pay $250 million toward the asbestos cleanup project.

17-Years of Continuous Asbestos Cleanup

In the early 1920s, the Zonolite Company began vermiculite ore mining operations in Libby. Vermiculite is used in a variety of construction materials, including insulation, and toxic asbestos fibers usually contaminate the mineral.

When W.R. Grace & Company took over operation of the mines in 1963, they knew the vermiculite was contaminated with asbestos and that it caused health complications. But they didn’t warn anyone, so mining continued.

As a result, hundreds of Libby residents have died and almost two thousand more are currently suffering illnesses related to asbestos exposure.

Yet the devastation caused by the mining industry in Libby didn’t gain national attention or receive government intervention until 1999 when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stepped in and began to clean up the town.

The public outcry over health issues, the documented callousness of W.R. Grace & Company and a growing stream of asbestos-related lawsuits prompted the EPA’s arrival in 1999.

It wasn’t just the miners, either, who developed asbestos cancer and related diseases. The asbestos dust from the processing plant traveled for miles through the air, threatening the entire community.

Over the years, W.R. Grace & Company also had distributed leftover vermiculite for use in playgrounds, backyards, baseball fields and gardens.

Libby Asbestos Deemed a Public Health Emergency

The EPA placed Libby on the National Priorities List in 2002, earning the Superfund site designation. That distinction will be removed in the coming years.

Then, in 2009, for the first time in the history of the agency, EPA declared a Public Health Emergency in Libby to provide federal health care assistance for victims of asbestos-related disease.

Since then the EPA has removed major sources of asbestos in and around the communities of Libby and Troy, investigated thousands of properties and conducted asbestos removals at more than 2,000 private homes and properties.

The site consists of eight areas, referred to by EPA as operable units (OUs). Specifically, the OU the EPA will be focusing on in this next cleanup phase is OU3, which encompasses property in and around the Zonolite Mine impacted by asbestos, including surrounding forested areas, the Kootenai River, Rainy Creek and Rainy Creek Road.

Although the health issues in Libby will continue because of the long latency period associated with asbestos exposure, the threat of new asbestos exposure has dropped significantly.

The EPA estimates that asbestos cleanup remains at a few hundred properties and expects to complete the final phase of cleanup in the next two to three years.

If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease, an experienced asbestos litigator can help get you the justice you deserve.