W.R. Grace . At least 192 people have died of asbestos-related disease from a mine near Libby, Montana that was owned by W.R. Grace for nearly 30 years. At least another 375 have been diagnosed with the fatal disease. For three decades, Grace mined enormous deposits of vermiculite in nearby Zonolite Mountain. Under the vermiculite are millions of tons of tremolite, a rare and exceedingly toxic form of asbestos.
Community residents say Grace for years told residents and workers that the dust was harmless.
When my father was a young man they told him, 'You can't eat enough of that stuff. It won't bother you. Now Vinion, who never worked as a miner, is himself dying from asbestos-related disease.