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Daily Southtown
August 28, 2007

The land around the Kootenai River in Montana has long been a paradise for anglers and backpackers. It's also home to the town of Libby, a closeknit community bolstered for decades by industries such as the local vermiculite mine.

But living and working in Libby has come at a terrible price as detailed in tonight's "P.O.V.: Libby, Montana," 10 p.m., PBS (Channel 11).

Hundreds have died or gotten sick from asbestos poisoning as the result of strip-mining of vermiculite, marketed as "Zonolite." The EPA has called it the worst case of industrial poisoning of a whole community in American history.

How this occurred and how the mining company, which knew about the potential dangers, failed to inform and protect its workers will have repercussions for years to come.