Posts Tagged ‘ Libby MT ’
Asbestos News Roundup: 4.18.13 – Asbestos in Schools, Libby Delays
April 18th, 2013. By LucyC
A roundup of recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of. An ongoing list of reported asbestos hot spots in the US from the Asbestos News Roundup archive appears on our asbestos map.
School Kids at Risk for Asbestos Exposure?
Building materials and insulation such as drywall, floor/ceiling tile, applied fireproofing spray, and piping/boiler insulation used in the construction of schools prior to 1980, frequently contained asbestos.
While undisturbed asbestos materials generally do not pose a health risk to students and teachers, over time they can become hazardous due to deterioration or damage.
If asbestos containing materials are disturbed, (e.g. during the installation, maintenance, or removal process), asbestos fibers may become airborne and pose a health threat to students, teachers and other employees within the schools. Once asbestos fibers are inhaled or swallowed, the risk of getting an asbestos related disease, such as asbestosis or mesothelioma, also increases. Student exposure to asbestos in schools is particularly concerning because once the fibers accumulate in the lungs, the latency period between asbestos exposure and the onset of symptoms can take as long as 20 to 50 years.
The federal government has been regulating the use of asbestos in schools since the 1980′s. Schools now have regulatory requirements and management plans to reduce the risk of potential asbestos exposure for students and teachers. However, until the presence of asbestos in schools is eliminated entirely, many believe it will continue to pose a health risk.
Asbestos Lawsuits
Charleston, WV: William Eugene Miller, from Wheelersburg, Ohio, is suing 60 companies he alleges caused his lung cancer.
Miller was diagnosed with the asbestos-related illness on April 21, 2011. According to his asbestos lawsuit, the defendants exposed Miller to asbestos and/or asbestos-containing products during his employment as a laborer from 1947 until 1995, according to a suit. The defendants are being sued based on theories of negligence, contaminated buildings, breach of expressed/implied warranty, strict liability, intentional tort, conspiracy, misrepresentation and post-sale duty to warn, according to the lawsuit.
Chicago, IL: A developer renovating a nursing home in uptown Chicago is facing an asbestos lawsuit brought by Attorney General Lisa Madigan. The eight-count lawsuit cites environmental violations related to the faulty removal of asbestos from the nursing home by Somerset Place Realty, the new owner of the property at 5009 N. Sheridan Rd.
Developer Zidan Management Group and general contractor Dubai, Inc., were also named in the lawsuit, which seeks $400,000 in damages ABC7Chicago reported.
“Unfortunately, careless mishandling of this dangerous substance posed a health threat,” Madigan said in a release Wednesday. “This legal action will ensure the workers take appropriate precautions and the contractors effectively clean up the location.”
Both city health inspectors and inspectors with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency) allegedly saw workers “wearing only paper respirators,” and indicated they “were not dressed properly for asbestos removal,” according to Madigan’s office.
The workers were also “removing pipe insulation, tile and mastic containing asbestos without enclosures and without following the proper wetting procedures,” Madigan’s office said.
Madigan’s complaint against Zidan, Somerset and Dubai alleged “substantial danger to the environment, air pollution, violation of asbestos inspection, emission control and disposal procedures, and violations regarding state and local notification of asbestos removal.” (ABC7chicago.com)
EPA Comes Under Fire for Libby, Montana Cleanup
Billings, MT: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is coming under fire by internal investigators for “years of delays” in completing health studies that are necessary to inform the ongoing cleanup at the infamous asbestos mining town of Libby.
Hundreds of people living in and around Libby have died from asbestos exposure resulting directly from the mining activities of WR Grace, which mined vermiculite asbestos and made insulation from it, for years.
In 2009, the area where Libby is, some 50 miles from the US-Canada border, was declared a public health emergency, but that was 10 years after federal regulators initially responded to concerns over asbestos dust that came from a WR Grace vermiculite mine. The insulation was used in millions of US homes.
To date, the cleanup has cost at least $447 million, and it will continue, with between 80 and 100 properties remaining to be remediated this year and several hundred still waiting for remediation dates.
Meanwhile, Libby remains under a public health emergency declaration issued by then-EPA administrator Lisa Jackson in 2009. Deaths resulting from the WR Grace asbestos exposure will likely continue for decades due to the long latency of asbestos-related diseases. As for the mine itself, cleanup work has only just begun. WR Grace closed the mine in 1990 and filed bankruptcy, but the mine remains its responsibility. (Associated Press)
Asbestos News Roundup: 2/14/13 – How to Prepare for an Asbestos Lawsuit
February 14th, 2013. By LucyC
This week’s asbestos news roundup includes all the recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of. An ongoing list of reported asbestos hot spots in the US from the Asbestos News Roundup archive appears on our asbestos map.
7 Steps to Prepare to Meet with an Asbestos Lawyer
Were you or someone you loved exposed to asbestos? Do you think you could have an asbestos mesothelioma or asbestos disease claim?
Here are the first things you need to do:
1. Get a clear diagnosis which ideally includes a tissue biopsy; or get a copy of the medical records and diagnostic documents from your loved one’s physicians.
2. Prepare a will. If you, yourself, are a victim of asbestos mesothelioma, it’s best to prepare a will that stipulates which law firm is to represent your case. While no one likes to think of these things, the executor of your will may ultimately need to work with this law firm. Better to identify your law firm rather than risk having multiple lawyers getting involved in the case as a result of various family members seeking to find counsel on your behalf.
3. Write down when and where you believe you or your loved one was exposed to asbestos
4. Write down the name of the company or companies you or your loved one worked for, even if you or your loved one worked as a contractor.
5. Write down the names of fellow workers that knew there may have been asbestos on the job site(s).
6. Contact a lawyer. If you have not already done so, you should meet with an asbestos lawyer and bring all supporting documentation with you.
7. Have the lawyer prepare an affidavit of critical facts for preserving your case.
If you have been diagnosed with asbestos disease, there’s a good chance that your colleagues will also have been exposed. They may even have contacted a lawyer already, and be familiar with the process. If possible, reach out to your former colleagues to find out how they are and what, if anything they may have done or be doing, and if they will support you in your claim.
If you are a spouse of a mesothelioma victim who has recently died from the illness, you and your heirs could have between one to three years from the date of death to file a wrongful death action, which may result in the recovery of substantial monetary damages.
Filing an asbestos claim and recovering damages can help with costs such as medical and funeral expenses. Damages can include:
• Lost income
• Medical expenses
• Pain or suffering
• Loss of love, services and sexual relations from a spouse (also called consortium)
Asbestos News
Billings MT: A panel of scientists have endorsed draft results that find that exposure to even a minute amount of asbestos can lead to lung illnesses such as asbestos mesothelioma and asbestosis. On the heels of this announcement, Federal officials have stated that they expect to have finished a risk study to guide the cleanup of the infamous asbestos mining town called Libby, Montana, by 2014. The document will establish when cleanup work will end at the WR Grace & Co vermiculite mine outside Libby. Hundreds of residents of Libby, and people living nearby the infamous mine, have died from asbestos exposure directly related to the mine. Dozens more people have become ill with asbestos-related disease.
So far, the cleanup, which began in 1999, has cost over $447 million. According to the Associated Press (AP), between 80 and 100 properties in Libby are lined up for cleanup to begin. Cleanup also remains to be done in several hundred properties and that list could grow significantly depending on the outcome of the risk study.
Cleanup work began in Libby after the WR Grace mine closed in 1990. The benchmark used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in establishing risk for lung illness from asbestos exposure at the site was lung scarring. And importantly, in the report just released, the scientists confirm that the EPA made the right call. That finding could have far reaching implications, possibly affecting dozens of sites across the country that received vermiculite asbestos from the WR Grace mine for processing into home insulation products.
EPA toxicologist Deborah McKean said she did not expect a significant change to the agency’s determination that exceeding extremely low levels of airborne asbestos—0.00002 fibers of the mineral per cubic centimeter—raises the risk of lung-scarring, the AP reported. “She added that final exposure standards won’t be established until additional work is done.
Meanwhile, Libby remains under a novel public health emergency declaration issued in 2009 by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson. Because asbestos disease can take up to 50 years to manifest, the deaths from asbestos exposure at and around the town are expected to continue for decades. (thewesternnews.com)
Max Did It His Way for Libby
December 29th, 2009. By Hunter West
The final vote on what will be an historic event precluding the passage of President Obama’s health care bill Christmas Eve was preceded by a close vote in the Senate in the wee hours last Monday morning. It passed by the slimmest of margins—and that’s after weeks of lobbying and wrangling individual senators to gain their support.
The Republicans have been crying foul. Other critics say that the bill reeks of political pork and pet projects in exchange for support and precious votes. 
On the surface the criticism seems justified—although defenders point out that a union of states (which is what the United States of America is) remains a democracy and negotiation is just part of the process. True, say the critics—but that kind of stuff just drives the price of health care reform through the roof by advocating for the few, to the detriment of the many.
But dig a little deeper and you suddenly begin to understand…
Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) is chairman of the Finance Committee and principal author of the health care bill. So one has to wonder if he had anything to do with a cryptic proposal, which The New York Times described on Sunday as ‘inconspicuous’, expanding Medicare to cover certain victims of “environmental health hazards.”
“The intended beneficiaries are identified in a cryptic, mysterious way,” writes Robert Pear in the Read the rest of this entry »
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