|
Archives
Company Charged With Endangering Community
The United States Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency
announced that a federal grand jury in the District of Montana has indicted
W.R. Grace and seven current and former Grace executives for knowingly endangering
residents of Libby, Montana, and concealing information about the health effects
of its asbestos mining operations.
According to the Indictment, W.R. Grace and its executives, as far back as
the
1970’s, attempted to hide the fact that toxic asbestos was present in vermiculite
products at the company’s Libby, Montana plant. The grand jury charged
the defendants with conspiring to conceal information about the hazardous nature
of the company’s asbestos contaminated vermiculite products, obstructing
the government’s clean-up efforts, and wire fraud. To date, according
to the indictment, approximately 1,200 resident of Libby have been identified
as
suffering from some kind of asbestos-related abnormality.
According to the indictment, W.R. Grace operated a vermiculite mine in Libby,
Montana from 1963 to 1990, as part of its Construction Products Division, which
was headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Vermiculite was used in many
common commercial products, including attic insulation, fireproofing materials,
masonry
fill, and as an additive to potting soils and fertilizers.
The vermiculite deposits in Libby were contaminated with a form of asbestos
called tremolite. Asbestos is regulated under the Clean Air Act as a hazardous
air pollutant.
Studies have shown that exposure to asbestos can cause life-threatening illnesses,
including asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma. Health studies on residents
of the Libby area show increased incidence of many types of asbestos related
disease, including a rate of lung cancer that is 30 percent higher than expected
when compared with rates in other areas of Montana and the United States.
The indictment alleges that the defendants, beginning in the late 1970’s,
obtained knowledge of the toxic nature of tremolite asbestos in its vermiculite
through internal epidemiological, medical, and toxicological studies, as well
as through product testing. The indictment further alleges that, despite legal
requirements under the Toxic Substances Control Act to turn over to EPA the information
they possessed, W.R. Grace and its officials failed to do so on numerous occasions.
In addition to concealing information from EPA, the indictment alleges that W.R.
Grace and its officials also obstructed the National Institute of Occupational
Safety and Health (NIOSH) when it attempted to study the health conditions at
the Libby mine in the 1980’s.
The indictment further alleges that, despite their knowledge gained from
internal studies, W.R. Grace and its officials distributed asbestos-contaminated
vermiculite
and permitted it to be distributed throughout the Libby community. This occurred
in numerous ways, including, allowing workers to leave the mine site covered
in asbestos dust, allowing residents to take waste vermiculite for use in their
gardens and distributing vermiculite “tailings” to the Libby schools
for use as foundations for running tracks and an outdoor ice skating rink.
After W.R. Grace closed the Libby mine in 1990, it sold asbestos contaminated
properties
to local buyers without disclosing the nature or extent of the contamination.
One of the contaminated properties was used as a residence and commercial nursery.
If convicted, the defendants face up to 15 years imprisonment on each endangerment
charge, and up to five years imprisonment on each of the conspiracy and obstruction
charges. W.R. Grace could face fines of up to twice the gain associated with
its alleged misconduct.
Archives
|
