Libby, Montana
USA Today
By Jacquelaine Blais
August 6, 2007

Airs on PBS' P.O.V., Aug. 28, 10 p.m. (check local listings). Drury Gunn Carr and Doug Hawes-Davis, directors.

It tells the story of the contamination of Libby, Mont., location of what the Environmental Protection Agency has called "the worst case of industrial poisoning of a whole community in American history."

The setting: Libby, Mont., in the Rocky Mountains.

The work: Since the 1920s, Libby workers mined an ore called "vermiculite," a material often associated with asbestos. Its commercial product is Zonolite, used mainly for insulation. (An estimated 35 million homes in the USA could contain asbestos-tinged Zonolite, according to the film.) Vermiculate was so common in Libby, even the ball field was lined with it. W.R. Grace bought the factory in the 1960s and closed it in the early 1990s.

The deaths: "In May 2002, 218 crosses were displayed in memory of the known Libby asbestos victims. More than 1,200 other Libby residents had been diagnosed with lung abnormalities by July 2004."

The issue: "This poisoning continued for more than 30 years after W.R. Grace knew of the dangers."

Stay tuned: W.R. Grace and some executives face a criminal trial, which is scheduled for September.