Editorial: AG has strong Libby argument
An IR view
Montana Attorney General Mike McGrath has made a powerful case in favor of having Libby declared a Superfund site.
While most Montanans appear to agree — witness our Web site poll last week in which nine out of 10 respondents favored Superfund status — that’s likely a general, fox-in-the-henhouse sentiment. People feel W.R. Grace and Co. have done quite enough at Libby.
But as McGrath pointed out last week in his long memo to Gov. Judy Martz, Montana already is facing 188 lawsuits over its failure to prevent asbestos-related deaths and illnesses in Libby. The state is hardly in a position to do anything that smacks of less than an all-out clean-up effort.
And, with Grace already involved in bankruptcy proceedings, it could well find itself prevented from doing the work. As McGrath noted, Grace’s involvement would require approval by the bankruptcy court, and its creditors aren’t going to the company spending money for a clean-up that they would argue should go to them.
In other words, regardless of how anybody feels about W.R. Grace, it is in Montana’s best interest to turn to the EPA. The state is feeling the heat in part because several federal audits have found that Montana health and environmental officials knew of asbestos-related problems in Libby as far back as the 1950s, but did nothing about them.
That’s probably a matter for the courts to decide. Grace officials have said all along that knowledge about the dangers of asbestos has improved greatly over the last few decades, and that the company always has followed safety rules that existed at the time.
We don’t know how well those kinds of arguments will hold up in the face of the disaster that befell Libby, or the extent to which the state is in legal jeopardy. But while there’s nothing to be done about the state’s actions or inactions over the past five decades, it surely makes no sense to compound Montana’s potential liability by delaying a full Superfund cleanup.
Not to mention correcting a problem that preliminary studies indicate has caused respiratory problems in one out of three Libby residents.
Montana Attorney General Mike McGrath has made a powerful case in favor of having Libby declared a Superfund site.
While most Montanans appear to agree — witness our Web site poll last week in which nine out of 10 respondents favored Superfund status — that’s likely a general, fox-in-the-henhouse sentiment. People feel W.R. Grace and Co. have done quite enough at Libby.
But as McGrath pointed out last week in his long memo to Gov. Judy Martz, Montana already is facing 188 lawsuits over its failure to prevent asbestos-related deaths and illnesses in Libby. The state is hardly in a position to do anything that smacks of less than an all-out clean-up effort.
And, with Grace already involved in bankruptcy proceedings, it could well find itself prevented from doing the work. As McGrath noted, Grace’s involvement would require approval by the bankruptcy court, and its creditors aren’t going to the company spending money for a clean-up that they would argue should go to them.
In other words, regardless of how anybody feels about W.R. Grace, it is in Montana’s best interest to turn to the EPA. The state is feeling the heat in part because several federal audits have found that Montana health and environmental officials knew of asbestos-related problems in Libby as far back as the 1950s, but did nothing about them.
That’s probably a matter for the courts to decide. Grace officials have said all along that knowledge about the dangers of asbestos has improved greatly over the last few decades, and that the company always has followed safety rules that existed at the time.
We don’t know how well those kinds of arguments will hold up in the face of the disaster that befell Libby, or the extent to which the state is in legal jeopardy. But while there’s nothing to be done about the state’s actions or inactions over the past five decades, it surely makes no sense to compound Montana’s potential liability by delaying a full Superfund cleanup.
Not to mention correcting a problem that preliminary studies indicate has caused respiratory problems in one out of three Libby residents.
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