In June 2008, a federal bankruptcy judge approved an agreement for W.R. Grace & Co. to reimburse the federal government $250 million for the investigation and cleanup of asbestos contamination in a Montana town.
W.R. Grace & Co., based in Columbia, MD agreed to the amount to settle a bankruptcy claim brought by the government to recover money for the past and future cleanup of contaminated schools, homes and businesses in Libby, Montana.
The contamination has been blamed for sickening hundreds of people, some of whom have died.
According to an order signed by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Judith K. Fitzgerald during a hearing in Pittsburgh, Grace must pay the amount within 30 days.
James D. Freeman, a Justice Department attorney, said the settlement was a “substantial compromise” for the government, but the prompt payment would allow the cleanup to continue without budgetary concerns.
Taxpayers (this means YOU) have been footing the bill for the EPA’s investigative work and cleanup in Montana, which began almost a decade ago. An EPA official in Libby said that expenses totaled $168 million and another $175 million in costs were likely. Remaining cleanup is expected to take another three to five years.
The asbestos came from vermiculite mine and processing facilities a few miles from Libby and were owned and operated by Grace & Co. from 1963 until the site’s closure in 1990.
Millions of tons of the asbestos-contaminated vermiculite ore were shipped from the mine near Libby to processing plants across the United States for use in insulation and other products.
Residents of Libby who were exposed to asbestos have suffered asbestosis and mesothelioma.
Grace & Co. filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy 2001 because of lawsuits over asbestos. That same year, the government filed a lawsuit to recover costs and eventually the EPA won a $54 million judgment for cleanup costs incurred through Dec. 31, 2001; an amount which went unpaid throughout Grace’s bankruptcy proceedings.
In April 2008, Grace & Co. reached an agreement to resolve current and future asbestos claims in a deal valued by plaintiffs’ attorneys at $3 billion in cash and equity.
