LIBBY, MONTANA
VERMICULITE MINE
Airborne asbestos fibers plagued town residents as plant processed vermiculite

Workers at neighboring industrial sites and local residents could have been exposed in the past to Libby asbestos fibers released into the air while the plant was processing vermiculite.

Little information is available, however, concerning emissions from the plant during many of the years Libby vermiculite was exfoliated at the site, so no estimate of risk from these exposures can be made.

An air dispersion model used to estimate past emissions from a vermiculite processing plant in Minnesota suggested that areas very close (within one block) to an expansion plant could have had elevated fiber levels, but the levels were predicted to drop off rapidly as distance increased.

Workers, particularly those who worked outdoors to the northwest, northeast, and southeast of the site may, however, have been exposed to LA. Due to the lack of adequate emission data, no estimate of risks can be made for this past exposure pathway.

Exposures to Libby asbestos fibers from ambient air emissions were eliminated in 1994 when the facility closed. This pathway is considered an "indeterminate public health hazard."

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