The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday declared a public health emergency for a Montana town where over 200 residents have died of mesothelioma, a disease that attacks the lining of the lung, abdomen or heart, and other asbestos related diseases.
This is the first public health emergency declared by the EPA in over a decade. The town of Libby, which has endured asbestos contamination due to operations at the local vermiculite mine, will receive $6 million in federal funds for asbestos clean-up costs and medical assistance to screen, diagnose, and treat residents with mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.
The Libby mine, which opened in 1919 and was operated by W.R. Grace from 1963 until it shut down in 1990, produced vermiculite, a mineral used in insulation products. The vermiculite was contaminated with tremolite asbestos. Dust from the operations coated grass and parked cars and clouded the air for years, resulting in over 1,000 residents developing asbestos-related diseases to date.
