Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Residents of Libby, Montana, and Environmental Protection Agency officials were stumped July 1 when a large chunk of vermiculite asbestos was found in Riverfront Memorial Park, a site that had been cleaned three previous times for asbestos contamination. Libby is the location of one of the most well known and widespread asbestos contamination episodes in the United States, and is a multi-million dollar Superfund cleanup site.

According to a report in The Western News, a publication in Libby, Mike Cirian, a remedial on-site manager with the EPA, found the 6-inch wide, 50-yard long line of vermiculite in a high-traffic area in the park, alongside the boat ramp and on the building site of a new pavilion that was slated to begin construction today.

The park was cleaned once by W.R. Grace, which owned and operated the vermiculite mining operation that is blamed for the deaths of more than 200 people from mesothelioma and asbestosis, and the asbestos-related illnesses of thousands more; once during the building of the boat ramp; and a third time by the EPA, which dug down as far as 18 inches to remove asbestos contaminated soil.

Cirian does not believe the asbestos could have come up from the soil, but has no other theories about how the material got into the park. However, officials are not ruling out the possibility that it was dumped at the site intentionally.

By the time the asbestos was identified in the park, it had been crushed and scattered by vehicles, and it is estimated that an area of 12,000 square feet must now be cleaned of potential contamination, at a cost of thousands of dollars.

City officials say anyone caught intentionally dumping hazardous asbestos will be prosecuted under a felony Criminal Mischief law.

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