End Stonewalling For Decency’S Sake
W.R. Grace & Co. should honor its commitment to full cooperation with government agencies to determine the risks and effects of asbestos-laced vermiculite.
But recently, the company seemed to be watering down this commitment.
Nearly 200 people in Libby, Mont., have died from asbestosis and about 400 are ill from it. Asbestosis is a fatal scarring of the lungs caused by inhaling microscopic needles of asbestos. Asbestos also causes mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer.
The Environmental Protection Agency wants to use the latest technology to analyze asbestos samples. But W.R. Grace opposes the EPA’s plans. The company says that technology will overestimate the amount of asbestos in the samples removed from homes in Libby.
Residents of Libby, ex-workers of Grace’s vermiculite mine and Spokane processing plant and their family members are dying, and W.R. Grace is worried about the EPA overestimating the amount of asbestos? Since the exact amount of exposure to asbestos and the risk of illness is not known, even a trace amount should be a concern.
The newer technology shows tiny asbestos fibers in samples where older testing methods and equipment turn up no asbestos or only trace amounts. To continue to use the old method of testing when better techniques are available is unconscionable.
This is the same company that used new technical information to claim it did not pollute the water in Woburn, Mass. This case, made famous in the movie, “A Civil Action,” depicted the true story of an attorney who traced a New England town’s high leukemia rate to pollution from a W.R. Grace plant and a tanning business. It seems new technology was fine when it was beneficial to the company’s position but is not when it may show higher levels of asbestos.
W.R. Grace recently repurchased its former vermiculite mine in Libby. Currently, it is banning the EPA from the site.
On the W.R. Grace Web site, the company says, “Grace has pledged full cooperation with government agencies to determine if there is an ongoing risk to Libby residents from our former operations.” It also says, “Grace has urged federal and state authorities to move forward with the investigations in an open and expeditious manner.” If what company officials write is true, why do they deny the EPA access to their site? Why does it seem they are stalling the investigation?
Grace also contends that richterite, not tremolite, is the asbestos found in Libby ore. Richterite is tremolite with small amounts of sodium. The name designation is important because tremolite is one of the six types of hazardous asbestos under the Superfund and clean air laws; richterite, although it is equally dangerous, is not. If the asbestos is renamed, the company could avoid paying millions in cleanup costs.
W.R. Grace & Co. may not have known the risks of exposure to tremolite. But it has an opportunity now to demonstrate corporate responsibility by having the EPA test asbestos samples using the latest technology, allowing the EPA access to the mine, and by not arguing over the name of the asbestos.