Opinion ID: 3034999
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: asbestos contamination in libby

Text: From the 1920s until 1990, Grace and its predecessors mined and processed vermiculite—a mineral containing a type of asbestos called tremolite—at a mine approximately seven miles northeast of Libby. See Grace I at 1138-41 (describing factual background in an order granting the EPA’s motion for summary judgment). Processed ore was trucked to screening plants and expansion/export plants from which the 7 The National Priorities List is “the list, compiled by EPA pursuant to CERCLA section 105, of uncontrolled hazardous substance releases in the United States that are priorities for long-term remedial evaluation and response.” 40 C.F.R. § 300.5. 15542 UNITED STATES v. W.R. GRACE & CO. materials were distributed nationwide. Vermiculite was also available for employees to take home for their personal use, and Grace donated vermiculite to the local schools. Although Grace did not cease mining and processing operations in Libby until 1990, state and federal agencies conducted studies on the health effects of the mining operations as early as the 1940s. These efforts were, however, focused on workplace exposure rather than contamination in the greater Libby community. For example, in the 1940s and 1950s, the Montana State Board of Health issued several industrial hygiene studies to determine whether the mine’s operations were detrimental to the employees’ health. In 1992, the EPA issued a written determination on the applicability of the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants to a road on the mine property. However, no CERCLA activities were performed in Libby prior to the EPA’s commencement of an investigation in 1999 that led to the current cleanup.