BNSF Railway asbestos trial begins
Montana Public Radio | By Aaron Bolton
A trial over whether BNSF Railway is liable for contaminating the Libby area with asbestos began Monday.
Families are suing in U.S. District Court on the behalf of Joyce Walder and Thomas Wells. The lawsuit says both died from mesothelioma, which was caused by asbestos. They argue that BNSF knowingly transported vermiculite contaminated with asbestos from a now defunct local mine and didn’t properly warn the public.
BNSF has denied liability.
In a separate case, the Montana Supreme Court ruled that BNSF can be held liable for its role in spreading asbestos. BNSF had argued that the mine owner, W.R. Grace, should be held liable and that it was only transporting goods for a paying customer.
This latest case is the first of many related to BNSF’s role in exposing Libby residents to asbestos
Conservation groups sue U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over denying gray wolves endangered species protections
Montana Public Radio | By John Hooks
Conservation groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Monday over the agency's decision to deny endangered species protections for gray wolves in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concluded in February that wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains are no longer distinct from wolves in other western states, and the population at large is not at risk of extinction, even under a “substantial increase” of hunting in the northern Rockies.
Gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountain population were delisted in 2011. Wolves in the rest of the contiguous 48 maintain protected status.
In their lawsuit, conservation groups argue the service relied on faulty population models that over-estimated the number of wolves in Idaho and Montana. The suit asks the court to order the government to re-evaluate its decision.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined to comment on active litigation.
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An atmospheric river swept across the Pacific Northwest last December, dropping more than a foot of rain – and tens of millions of dollars in damages – in portions of the Cabinet Mountains. Work repairing and stabilizing a stretch of northwest Montana’s flood-damaged Libby Creek is now complete. -
A Libby medical clinic that diagnoses and treats people with asbestos-related diseases abruptly closed this week. Congress set up the clinic and gave Libby-area residents Medicare benefits because exposure to asbestos in the community was so widespread. -
After years of legal battles and funding uncertainty, Libby’s Center for Asbestos Related Disease, or CARD clinic, says it will shutter permanently on August 31. -
A federal court ruled Tuesday that BNSF Railway can’t be held liable for vermiculite shipments that spread asbestos contamination along its tracks in Libby. -
Lincoln County was hit hard by flooding from winter storms in 2025. Records of major floods in the area date nearly 100 years. A closer look at that history shows decades of mitigation measures, plans and preparations that officials say prevented further catastrophe in December.
