Monday, June 29, 2009

Democracy Now! | Libby, Montana


Libby, Montana
EPA Declares Public Health Emergency
For decades, W.R. Grace and Company mined asbestos-contaminated vermiculite in the town of Libby, Montana. Hundreds of miners and residents of Libby have died, and at least 1,200 more have developed cancer or lung disease from exposure.
In May 2009, executives from W.R. Grace were acquitted on charges of knowingly allowing Libby residents to be exposed to cancer-causing asbestos.
A month later, the Environmental Protection Agency declared a public health emergency in Libby. It marks the first time such a declaration has been made by the EPA. The EPA said it will funnel $6 million to provide medical care for people sickened by asbestos from the mine.
May 12, 2009: W.R. Grace Acquitted in Libby, Montana Asbestos Case A federal jury in Montana acquitted W.R. Grace and Company and three of its former executives last Friday of knowingly exposing mine workers and residents of Libby, Montana, to asbestos poisoning and then covering up their actions. The government has called this the nation’s biggest environmental disaster. Hundreds of miners and residents of Libby have died, and at least 1,200 more have developed cancer or lung disease from exposure to the asbestos-containing ore from W.R. Grace’s vermiculite mine.
April 22, 2009: A Town Suffering for Generations: Decades of Asbestos Exposure by W.R. Grace Mine Leave Hundreds Dead, 1,200+ Sickened in Libby We broadcast from Missoula, Montana, where an environmental crimes trial is underway in what the government has called “the nation’s biggest environmental disaster.” Hundreds of miners, their family members and townsfolk have died, and at least 1,200 have been sickened, from exposure to asbestos-containing ore from a mine in Libby, Montana, owned by W.R. Grace and Company.

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