As usual, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has well-researched news in their blog about the ongoing W.R. Grace trial in Montana.
In their usual, pull-no-punches style, blogger Andrew Schneider begins:
It took just minutes for W.R. Grace’s top lawyer to begin denouncing the scientific qualifications of the government’s chief witness and the man who led the government’s efforts to protect the people of Libby from the asbestos that poisoned their small Montana town.
The chief witness being assaulted is Paul Peronard, who with his associates Dr. Aubrey Miller and Toxicologist Chris Weis, investigated the Libby mine in 1999 on behalf of the EPA.
According to Schneider, the mission was was to refute stories in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporting that people Libby were sick and dying because of asbestos contamination from Grace’s nearby vermiculite mine. The column he’s talking about is likely Uncivil Action. A Town Left to Die in November 1999 by Andrew Schneider.
Peronard, a 23-year EPA veteran isn’t a toxicologist or an epidemiologist, and for that he was attacked by defense counsel.
According to Schneider, Peronard had never claimed that expertise. He made it clear that he was Libby’s on-scene coordinator and he managed the professionals that had those skills and determined what skills were needed to assess the risk of the asbestos hazard in Libby.
Still, Grace’s defense counsel set out to discredit Peronard and limit his testimony.
He showed up in Libby, head shaven, diamond studs in his ears and a gallery of tattoos showing. Over the years, he defused crowds of angry, government-hating, militia-loving townsfolk who believe that Peronard never lied to them. Probably as a concession to the U.S. attorney, the earrings are missing and the tats are mostly covered by long-sleeves. The jury should love him and Grace’s lawyers fear it.
The Judge apparently ordered the jury out while defense counsel attempted to silence Peronard.
Lawyers for the five Grace executives on trial wanted Peronard’s testimony silenced and to reopen the debate over what type of asbestos fiber was making Libby residents near the mine sick.
After almost three hours, the judge volunteered that Peronard had testified before him several times in the past said he that he was clearly the “finest on-scene coordinator in the nation, maybe beyond.”
Molloy countered that the defense should be pleased if he ruled that Peronard could only testify on what he did, not why he did it, especially, avoiding that mentions that actions were taken to save lives.
Grace won. Peronard would not be allowed to testify on any scientific information.
Yeah you read that right.
