Libby Montana

Libby is a small town in Montana that was the site of a vermiculite mine contaminated with a highly toxic form of amphibole asbestos. For decades the mine, operated for years by W.R. Grace, exposed workers, their families, and the whole community, causing widespread asbestos disease and hundreds of deaths. It became one of the most notorious asbestos disasters in U.S. history and led to a federal public health emergency.

Origin

The mine near Libby produced vermiculite, sold widely as Zonolite insulation, from the 1920s until 1990. The vermiculite deposit was naturally laced with Libby amphibole asbestos, a mix that includes tremolite, winchite, and richterite.

Significance in Asbestos Context

Libby matters both as a source of exposure and as evidence of corporate conduct. Exposure reached not only miners but their families, through dust on clothing, and residents, through contaminated products and soil, so disease appeared in people who never worked at the mine. Investigations and litigation revealed that W.R. Grace had internal knowledge of the health hazard, which supports arguments about foreseeability and concealment. In 2009 the EPA declared a public health emergency in Libby, the first of its kind. If your history includes Zonolite insulation or ties to Libby, that connection can be central to identifying the source of your disease.

Example Sentence

The patient's family had lived near Libby, Montana, and the doctor connected her pleural disease to community exposure to the contaminated vermiculite.

Related Terms

W.R. Grace, Vermiculite, Zonolite, Tremolite, Amphibole, EPA

Notes

• If you have any connection to Libby or used Zonolite attic insulation, tell your attorney, since it points to a specific, well-documented exposure source.
• Ask your doctor about screening if you lived in or near Libby, since community and household exposure caused disease in non-workers.
• Preserve records of where you lived, worked, or used vermiculite products, which help tie your exposure to the Libby source.