W. B. Reitze to Dr. Paul Kotin on His Visit to the Advocate Mine at Baie Verte (1975)

A six-page report of September 10, 1975, from W. B. Reitze to Dr. Paul Kotin (copies to Dr. George W. Wright, J. R. M. Hutcheson, R. E. Sampson, J. Cole, M. Harris and G. Chase) on a September 3–4 visit with Jerry Chase to J-M's Advocate asbestos mine at Baie Verte, Newfoundland. Reitze goes area by area: dust on machinery in the secondary crusher "in some cases to a depth of 8" or 10"," counts up to 15 fibers per cubic centimeter against a mine limit of 5, poor housekeeping in the quality control laboratory, and respirators he judged only 30–50% efficient. On the tailings: "All of the evergreens for a distance of 1 1/2 to 2 miles from the tailings pile are covered with white asbestos dust, resembling somewhat a winter snow scene."

What it shows

Reitze also reports dryer-stack dust "visible for many miles," waste water running to the sea where "hands full of asbestos can be retrieved from the water," and a report given to the plant physician showing a high level of asbestos fiber in Baie Verte's water, which he urges J-M to check at once since it "may well be brought to the attention of some of the environmental groups." He writes that "since we are aware of these critical problems and they are extremely visible to even the untrained eye," J-M should fix them quickly, before the provincial or national government forced it to. His visit followed the CBC's reports on the mine that summer (J. G. Cole's memos); earlier warnings about dust at Advocate include C. L. Sheckler, 1969.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

Johns-Manville's own chronology of what the company knew describes this document as follows:

In a memorandum to Kotin dated 9/10/75, Reitze reports on a visit to the Advocate Mine. He notes very poor dust conditions there. Notes tremendous problems with tailings disposal methods. "Currently a mountain of tailings dust, somewhat higher than the existing surrounding natural mountains, exists. All of the evergreens for a distance of one and a half to two miles from the tailings pile are covered with white asbestos dust, resembling somewhat a winter snow scene." There is also a rather high level of asbestos fiber in the drinking water in the area and overall substandard housekeeping practices.

Related documents

• J. G. Cole's Memos to R. E. Sampson Transcribing CBC Reports on the Advocate Mine (1975)