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Hundreds Of Libby Properties Still Untested For Asbestos Contamination

Downtown Libby, MT.
libbymt.com

On Thursday the EPA wrapped up three meetings in Libby and Troy to tell people about the agency's new asbestos risk assessment. In a determination that people have been waiting years to hear, it says that, in general, it's safe to live in Libby now.
 

The numbers showed approximately a four-fold difference in the risk associated with a clean home versus a home that has not been cleaned.

But it also says that, for people who live in houses that haven't been through an extensive EPA cleanup, the risk of getting asbestos-related disease is significantly higher.

"The numbers showed approximately a four-fold difference in the risk associated with a clean home versus a home that has not been cleaned," said EPA Toxicologist Deborah McKean.

There are an estimated 800 homes in Libby that haven't been tested for contamination.

A thorough cleaning can take up to two weeks, and may require carpets being ripped out and the removal of a foot or more of topsoil from the yard around a house. Because Libby is a Superfund site, the estimated $10,000 cost of de-contaminating a house is paid by the government, not by the homeowner.

But hundreds of people have still refused to have their houses tested. Nick Raines works for the Lincoln County Asbestos Resource Program. It's his job to encourage people to get their homes tested.

Raines says there are a number of reasons people choose not to have their houses tested.

"Everything from people that just don't want either local, federal or state government on their property. They feel that it may be an infringement on their private property rights. They just don't want to deal with it," Raines says.

"There's also people that have not been interested. They've heard stories of how the cleanup has went on other properties, how restoration has went, or hasn't, and they just don't want to deal with the hassle of a cleanup."

For others, Raines says, "it just didn't work out timing-wise. They had some events going on in their life where at that time it wasn't appropriate.

"One of the things we've heard, there's at least a subset of people that have been waiting for some of the information that has come out this week. They've really wanted to know what risk is present, how dangerous is Libby Amphibole asbestos? And does it really need to be cleaned up off their property?

"There was concern that they would have EPA come in and do an investigation and maybe removal, and later this information would come out and maybe the EPA needed to come back and do more work. So they wanted to just wait until the data was final so they could have one shot at it."

Raines says the risk assessment for Libby released Monday is a very big deal, and should help him convince people to get their properties tested.

"I feel this data really bolsters our argument. It gives us actual numbers, actual data to show people. Some of the very simple charts and graphs the EPA provided throughout the risk assessment give people some real numbers to look at. We can show them, here's the risk present at a property that's had a cleanup versus a property that has not had a clean up and needs one."

The risk assessment is also a big deal because now that the EPA has quantified the risk of living in Libby, it can propose a final cleanup action. That won't happen until other government agencies, including the state of Montana, and the public have a chance to comment on the just-released risk assessment. There will also be a public process before the final clean up plan is approved. The EPA is hoping to make its final clean up proposal by the middle of next year.
 

Eric Whitney is NPR's Mountain West/Great Plains Bureau Chief, and was the former news director for Montana Public Radio.
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