Executives Indicted Over Asbestos at Mine
W.R. Grace and Co. and seven high-ranking employees knew a Montana mine was releasing cancer-causing asbestos into the air and tried to hide the danger to workers and townspeople, according to a federal indictment unsealed Monday. More than 1,200 people became ill, and some of them died, prosecutors said.
The asbestos was naturally present in a vermiculite mine operated by Grace in the town of Libby for nearly 30 years.
The federal grand jury said that top Grace executives and managers kept secret numerous studies spelling out the risk the cancer-causing asbestos posed to its customers and employees and Libby residents.
The indictment also accused Grace and Alan Stringer, former manager of the now-closed mine, of trying to obstruct efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the extent of the asbestos contamination.
“A human and environmental tragedy has occurred in Libby,” said Bill Mercer, the U.S. attorney for Montana.
Grace, based in Columbia, Md., said in a statement that it “categorically denies any criminal wrongdoing.”
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