”Banff Report - Monday Earth in Focus”
Trailpeak.com, November 2, 2004
by Kurt Turchan

Trailpeak is in Banff for the entire kickoff festival of film screenings, and award presentations. Our daily reports give you an idea of the atmosphere, film favourites, and, highlights.

Monday’s focus at the Banff Mountain Festival was environmentalism. My self described “Weekend of the Camel” theme, has given way to “Earth in Focus” on Monday, with two feature films of monumental importance.

The first film called “Libby” puts this small town of the same name in Montana on centre stage. Just south of B.C.'s own Kootenay’s, this could be "anytown B.C" with a backdrop of mountains and big trees. A rather slow start showing the surface of a healthy small town going about it's day soon gives way to one of America’s greatest disasters. One whose story is far from complete, and, one that could bankrupt America itself. It smells of corruption on the scale of Enron, with implications at the presidential level. The film makers were on hand to answer questions afterward, and, stated that they completed this film without any funding and largely of their own free time. The issue is very current and there is as yet no good ending.

For a few years, these film makers gained the trust of local EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and residents, whose gut wrenching stories detail how an entire workforce of good men and families were sent to their early deaths. It is nothing less than criminal. In a movie that could serve as a sequel to “The Corporation”, here is more evidence of corporate greed and bad politics by company W.R. Grace, America’s largest producer of Vermiculite. It was formed into Zonolite, a product used to insulate, and, fertilize. As many as 35 Million homes in the U.S. of America now have Zonolite insultation from Libby Montana, where rock seams containing Vermiculite were polluted with high levels of asbestos. As a result of mining operations, miners and workers were constantly exposed to a haze of “dust” which the company knew as early as the 1950’s posed life threatening asbestos hazards . Internal memos were held secret, X-rays were intentionally not explained, workers were simply not told about the asbestos threat, through the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's. The W.R. Grace company thrived while workers died.

Like many Libby workers, my own grandfather died in his 50’s, a worker in the Inco plant of Port Colborne Ontario where class action suits related to heavy metal fallout are underway. A skilled carpenter, he emmigrated from Slovakia with his family and several other families. It wasn't vermiculite at the INCO plant but he did make a sacrifice for future generations just like those in Libby. The humble portraits of my own Grandfather and Grandmother could well have been on the screen. How many of us in Canada have a similar story?

The film chronicles the heroic efforts of one EPA chief, parachuted into the disaster zone. It follows his rounds amongst innocent, good, loyal townsfolk who put their trust in the “company”. The few retirees still living are sick, very sick. Most lost their lungs to Asbestosis and died well before their years.

Although the film is about restitution, honour, and, helping a town recover, it is rife with political scandal. The U.S. Federal Government claims it simply cannot pay for the cleanup of Libby homes for fear it would set a precedent to do so for the other 35 Million homes in the U.S. containing Libby Vermiculite. The film maker told us after the movie that words like “Bankrupt the Federal Budget” have been mentioned. The question that begs asking; is this with or without the expense of the Iraq war?

W.R. Grace, filed for Bankruptcy just as the EPA and courts process was finding W.R. Grace guilty of not communicating health risks or providing proper protection from the asbestos laden dust. They were clearly at fault, and responsible for cleanup. Filters and masks that were handed out clogged in a matter of minutes. Rather than risking being fired, workers continued without them in many cases. Workers came home covered in dust. It’s in their homes as insultation, fertilizer, on the walls, in their clothes, on their skin. Wives, children, grandchildren also died as the poison permeated everything. W.R. Grace transferred between $4Billion and $6Billion dollars to another company before filing for Bankruptcy. The task of funding the Libby cleanup fell to the Federal government as W.R. Grace went bankrupt.

How did a whole town become powerless in fear of losing good paying jobs? What social tools are we missing?