Federal prosecutors yesterday charged W.R. Grace & Co. with exposing mine workers and residents in a small mountain community in Montana to deadly asbestos and covering up the danger.
Seven current and former employees also were charged with participating in the conspiracy.
The death rate from asbestos in Libby and surrounding areas is 40 to 80 times higher than elsewhere in the state and the nation, according to the indictment filed yesterday. A rare type of cancer that normally occurs in nine in a million individuals shows up in at least 20 of the approximately 8,000 residents of the area, according to the indictment.
In 1977, an animal study commissioned by Grace linked the type of asbestos from the mine to cancer, according to court papers. The company did not tell its workers what it had found, prosecutors alleged. Although Grace improved safety measures after it bought the plant, prosecutors now allege they were not sufficient.
Even after learning about the cancer link, Grace donated mining scraps to the local high school to pave its running track. In 1981, a Grace employee sampled dust kicked up by runners and told Grace in writing that he found "surprisingly high" levels of asbestos fibers. Grace resurfaced the track later that year, but according to the indictment, the company "failed to completely remove" the contaminants.
Montana U.S. Attorney William W. Mercer said in an interview that what happened in Libby amounted to a "human environmental tragedy" for which Grace and several top officials must be held accountable. Environmental Protection Agency officials say the Libby mine, which has been designated a federal Superfund site, marks one of the most significant health disasters they have ever faced.
Grace, which filed for bankruptcy protection in April 2001 because it was facing thousands of asbestos claims nationwide, denies the charges. "Grace categorically denies criminal wrongdoing," the company said in a prepared statement. "We look forward to setting the record straight in a court of law."
Executives charged in some of the counts include three current Grace employees: former mine manager Alan R. Stringer, who now represents Grace in the Superfund cleanup; O. Mario Favorito, who was former corporate legal counsel and is now assistant secretary; and senior vice president Robert J. Bettacchi. Four former executives also were charged: Henry A. Eschenbach, Jack W. Wolter, William J. McCaig and Robert C. Walsh.
Attorneys representing Stringer, Favorito, Wolter and Walsh disputed the charges against their clients. Lawyers for the other men could not be reached for comment. Mercer said the company and the seven individual defendants could make their first court appearance as early as next month.
Environmental experts say material from the Libby mine afflicted many people who never worked there. Thick dust from operations settled all over town: near the railroad tracks where material was carted away, at a plant that bordered the Little League baseball diamond, and on the high school football field where team members scrimmaged. According to the indictment, 1,200 area residents have lung abnormalities because of exposure to asbestos from the Grace mine. About 70 percent of them never worked at the site, government lawyers said.
For decades, Libby residents picnicked near the mine site a few miles out of town, took bags of contaminated mine waste to use in their gardens and as attic insulation, and brushed fibers off their clothing.
Dean Herreid, a 40-year-old teacher who has been diagnosed with lung problems tied to asbestos exposure, recalled stacking material from the mine at the railroad tracks, then watching as the passing trains stirred up immense clouds of dust. Libby Mayor Tony Berget said he even took a piece of the mine's asbestos-contaminated vermiculite with him on a high school wrestling trip to Europe, delighting his companions when he set fire to it and caused a loud "pop."
Medical experts now say that spiky asbestos fibers in the dust from the mining attack the lining of victims' lungs, often leading to persistent hacking coughs, severe chest pain and shortness of breath. The health effects can be so severe that sufferers like 88-year-old Dorothy I. Kittilson, who lost two husbands to asbestosis and who uses an electric cart to move around her house, must always carry oxygen tanks with them.
Asbestos is a naturally occurring substance that businesses once embraced as a cheap way to insulate and fireproof homes and other buildings. In the past few decades, its dangers have become clear as thousands of asbestos industry workers suffering from lung problems and cancers filed lawsuits against their former employers.
Grace, which employs more than 6,000 people worldwide -- 1,200 in Maryland -- bought the Libby mine in 1963 from the Zonolite Co., which had been running it for decades. Grace reaped profits of $140 million from sales of contaminated products between 1976 and 1990, the indictment said.
The mine contained prolific deposits of vermiculite, a golden mineral used in attic insulation, potting soil and fireproofing, including a spray produced by Grace designed to keep the steel beams of buildings from melting under extreme heat. But the vermiculite contained a deadly form of naturally occurring asbestos, which workers had to separate along with other contaminants and which wafted over employees, down the mountain and into the town.
As science evolved through the decades, Grace better understood the health effects of asbestos and took steps to reduce exposure to dust levels, said William M. Corcoran, vice president of public and regulatory affairs, in an interview last week. But science did not evolve quickly enough, he said, and people got hurt. Grace shuttered the mine in 1992.
"We take seriously our responsibility at Libby," Corcoran said. "We can't turn back the clock and remove the exposure they experienced. If we could, we would. All we can do today is give them as much support as possible with their health problems, and that's what we're trying to do."
The indictment comes as another milestone looms in the long-running national battle over asbestos. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) may introduce a bill later this month that would create a $140 billion trust fund for asbestos victims. Scores of companies, like Grace, have sought bankruptcy protection amid lawsuits from former workers suffering from asbestos-related conditions.
Libby resident and longtime victims' advocate Gayla Benefield, 61, said both of her parents died of asbestos-related diseases. She and her husband of 40 years have been diagnosed with lung abnormalities, and she worries about her grandchildren, who attended a local school where asbestos was found.
"Grace has never come back and said, 'We're sorry,' " Benefield said one recent afternoon from her log cabin overlooking the Kootenai River. "People should not have to beg and negotiate for the future of their lives. Grace knew what they were doing. . . . They didn't care if we died. They simply walked way after they made their millions."
Johnson reported from Libby, ElBoghdady from Washington. Researcher Richard Drezen contributed to this report.
Les Skramstad is among the asbestos victims in Libby, Mont. In 1996, he was told he had 10 years to live. Dorothy Kittilson and husband Wayne used oxygen for asbestosis. Wayne died a month after this photo was taken. Dorothy said her first husband also died from asbestosis.Tiny Libby has become an outpost for research on the health and environmental effects of asbestos. The area surrounding the town's vermiculite mine has an asbestos death rate 40 to 80 times higher than the rest of Montana and the nation, according to a federal indictment filed yesterday against W.R. Grace & Co. of Columbia. Patient rights advocate Gayla Benefield lost her parents to asbestosis.Drs. Alan Whitehouse, left, and Brad Black treat Libby, Mont., asbestos patients.
