Analysis of very fine and coarse particulate levels at WTC

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

JAN-25-2002 FRI 09:41 AN FAX NO. P. 14' i. Mining lowii Irt Mihiiam endbivd the Iiwi*>« of disew from asbtslos ' I • ■’ I

ST, LOUIS POST-DISPATCH I I

Mining town in Montana endured the horrors of disease from asbestos This story wrjs published In A-scttlon on Sunday, January 13,2002.

By Andrew Schneider Of The Post-Dispntch LIBBY, Mont, - Much of the jtsbesfos-laintcd vermiculite that spewed from the collapsing World Trade Center wos dug from.» mine In the Cabinet Mountains above this picturesque Kootenai River town. And In Libby, as in New York,' environmental and henith officials failed to disclose just how dangerous the mineral could be. t

Miners digging vermiculite ore nt the now-closed W.R. Grace Zonolitc mine In Libby breathed dust containing asbestos fibers, then carried it home on their clothes to their wives and children. Tnicks carrying the dust spread H throughout the town, and trains hauled the potentially lethal cargo to almost 300 towns acro».s the nation. The company knew It was deadly. But it did not require miners to wear respirators. Federal and . slate officials knew the daitgors, but they looked the other way.

Unlil, that is, the death toll began to climb.

So fur, hundreds of tninersi and their relatives have succumbed to Ihc diseases caused by the asbcijtos fibers that p,ninfuUy destroyed their lungs. Hundreds more are clinging to a torturous , life, sucking air from portable oxygen bottles. And the federal government says its testing has fOiifid signs of the disease in thousands more who have been examined.

liPA and federal hculdj inycBtigatocs have been virtually living in this tiny town in the western r»m« of Montano just below the Canadian border since November 19119. Most arrived three daya after the Seattle Post'-TntelHgcncer reported the deaths and enntamination.

They have .studied the way asbestos kills - up close and far too personal. Tlicii' findings make suspeci many of the absolute .statements the government is making in I playing down the hazaids those living in lower Manhattan face from asbestos. 1 «. On Dec. 20, Montana Goy. Judy Martz offered an early Christmas present to the people of the i I liny town, a "silver bullet,'’ Bvery governor has one, just one, to uso in getting the Environmental Protection Agency to designate a site or community for a Superfund cleanup. The cleanup in Libby woa needed not only to decontaminate the area around the old vermiculite mine, but nl.so the houses, yards ond playground filled with asbestos-containing dust. Also on that day, the EVA issued a detailed, real-world ri.sk assessment of what asbestos octunlly did to the people of Libby and those elsewhere in the nation who used or still use expanded vermieuUtc orc from the niinc, "If the risk to the people,of Libby is high enough to wanant the imposition of a Superfund dc.s{gnailon, why are government agencies Just .shrugging off the fad that many of the apnrtmarts and businesses in lower Manhattan have identical levels of asbestos or higher?” asks Cote Jenkins, a senior chemist in EPA's hazardous waste division.

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