U.S. Sen. Max Baucus of Montana recently chaired a Senate hearing for the purpose of questioning why the federal Environmental Protection Agency did not declare a public health emergency in Libby, Montana in 2002. Doing so would have allowed the EPA to allot more funding and manpower to clean up the town and start screening residents for health problems.

According to released documents, the EPA had originally prepared to declare a public health emergency for Libby in April 2002. However, they later changed their mind and opted for easier, cheaper, and less extensive method of removing asbestos-contaminated Zonolite insulation from attics in the homes of residents.

Several weeks later, the EPA released a memo stating that asbestos cleanup in Libby attics would begin, but the public health emergency declaration was never made.

Exposure to asbestos has been linked to several serious diseases, including asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. Asbestos exposure occurs when toxic, microscopic asbestos fibers are inhaled or ingested into the body. After being inhaled, the fibers typically attach themselves to the mesothelial lining of the lungs, known as pleural mesothelioma. However, these fibers can also attach to the mesothelial linings surrounding the heart and abdomen.

In January of this year, Sen. Baucus referred to the incident, saying, “It’s very clear to me that there was a lot of political pressure to prevent EPA from making the right decision a couple of years ago. And that’s just wrong, wrong, wrong.”

Baucus chaired the latest hearing in an attempt to gain some answers, but many of the key personnel involved in the incident back in 2002 failed to attend.

Sen. Baucus particularly wanted to question two people—EPA administrator Stephen Johnson, and former on-scene co-coordinator for the Libby cleanup, Paul, Peronard. However, Johnson failed to appear, and the EPA simply didn’t allow Peronard to attend.

During the hearing, Baucus testified that documents he obtained could prove the EPA officials working on the cleanup in Libby wanted the agency to declare a public health emergency.

However, Baucus claimed that the Office of Management and Budget squashed the idea to prevent the issues about asbestos-contaminated Zonolite from becoming national news.

Also present at the hearing were Lincoln County Commissioner Marianne Roose and Brad Black of the Center for Asbestos-Related Disease, who both stated Libby was in need of additional aid.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 12:57 pm and is filed under Asbestos Exposure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Responses are currently closed, but you trackback from your own site.