Background VI: Asbestos Project Plan and Libby, Mont.

Information on the EPA's Asbestos Project Plan and Libby, Mont.

The attorneys at the personal injury law firm of Weitz & Luxenberg have decades of experience defending victims’ rights in practice areas that include: accidents/general injury, dangerous drugs, medical malpractice, and environmental pollutants.

NEWS UPDATE:

Project Plan: More recently, EPA’s Superfund program has been conducting an extensive cleanup and health assessment effort in Libby, Montana, where asbestos contamination associated with a now-closed vermiculite mining operation was discovered.

The asbestos contamination found in Libby raised broader concerns about asbestos-contaminated vermiculite products, including vermiculite attic insulation (VAI) and horticultural products. In response to these concerns, EPA conducted vermiculite horticulture studies in 2000 and a limited study of VAI in six homes in 2002.

The VAI study raised questions about the ability of existing test methods to detect asbestos fibers in disturbed VAI and the possibility of false negative test results. As a result, in 2003, EPA launched a consumer awareness campaign about asbestos contaminated VAI.

Courtesy of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency