Feb 22, 2022 · Gayla Benefield, 75, reflects on the past two decades since she became active in exposing the Libby asbestos disaster. Both her parents died of asbestos-related disease, her husband died three ...
Gayla Benefield still remembers the nightmares she had of endless lines of lifeless, gray-faced men with fear in their eyes. It was 1982, and she was …
Gayla Benefield of Libby, Mont., is among many fighting to keep the Montana Environmental Policy Act intact in the face of Republican attempts to weaken the far-reaching and powerful law.
But it was the discovery gold in the 1860s that would trigger the influx of miners, whose names would be given to local landmarks and eventually the town: John S. Fisher (Fisher River), Stephen Allen (Libby Creek, named after his daughter Libby, short for Elizabeth) and Bragg Parmenter (Parmenter Creek).Feb 10, 2018
400An estimated 400 Libby residents have died and almost 3,000 more are currently suffering illnesses related to asbestos exposure such as mesothelioma.Oct 7, 2021
Gayla Benefield was one of the first residents in Libby, along with Les Skramstad, to begin to put pressure on local and state governments to do something about the health crisis in Libby. Her own attempts to have W. R.
Gold miners discovered vermiculite in Libby in 1881. In the 1920s, the Zonolite Company formed and began mining the vermiculite. In 1963, W.R. Grace bought the Zonolite mining operations.
Troy suffered from the area's contamination from nearby vermiculite mines contaminated with particularly fragile asbestos, leading to the town's inclusion in the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Priorities List status in 2002 and Public Health Emergency event in 2009. ...
LIBBY — Libby is a safe place to live, work and play, as long as you stay away from the spots that are still contaminated with asbestos. That's the conclusion of the Environmental Protection Agency, based on thousands of air and soil samples taken from around the community during the past 20 months.Sep 6, 2001
Vermiculite Mostly Found in Attics It was mined there for more than 50 years, ending in 1990. The insulation, which was known by the brand name Zonolite, is most often found in residential attics. What made the Libby vermiculite so dangerous was its proximity to asbestos deposits.Apr 24, 2018
Libby Amphibole or LA is an ore within the mineral vermiculite. It is often times found within the soil, sand and bodies of water in Libby. The most hazardous force of LA would be within the vermiculite insulation that is in many houses in and outside of Libby.Jan 15, 2020
The EPA asserts that Libby, Montana is now safe. The agency completed its investigation and cleanup of Libby, Montana in 2018. According to the EPA, “The amount of LA in air in downtown Libby is now nearly 100,000 times lower than when the vermiculite mine and mill were operating.”
When he coughs, as he frequently does, his long, wheezing splutter sounds so painful it makes you wince. Herreid lives in Libby, a tiny Rocky Mountain town in Montana that is isolated, beautiful and toxic. Scores of men in this rough-edged, blue collar town have been killed off, ...
These days Benefield finds herself compared to Erin Brockovich, the California legal clerk who defeated a power firm that contaminated drinking water, and inspired the eponymous film that made her a celebrity. Lawyers for WR Grace deny all the charges and say the company did its best to protect Libby.
Jack Templin, 77, a former logger, is outside in their van, hooked up to a 50-gallon tank of oxygen so he can catch his breath. One of their grandchildren has a lump on the lung. "Grace knew all the time, they just called it 'the dust'. Mass murder is what you would call it," said Ida.
An exploration into understanding the complexities of the Chemical Age, the Synthetic Chemical Revolution, and the toxins that impact us all
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