W.R. Grace fails to get a rehearing on the criminal charges against it related to the asbestos tragedy in Libby, Montana
After a three-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in September that W.R. Grace and key executives for the company would face criminal charges for decisions made in operating the company’s vermiculite mine in Libby, the company’s lawyers sought review of the decision by the full court. That request has been denied. Federal prosecutors have alleged that W.R. Grace and its key managers knowing endangered the residents of Libby, Montana by intentionally concealing the dangers of its asbestos-contaminated vermiculite. W.R. Grace may request that the order be stayed while the company seeks review in the U.S. Supreme Court. The charges carry a possible 15-year prison term on each of the three counts. In 2003, W.R. Grace was ordered to pay the EPA $54.5 million for the cleanup of asbestos contamination in Libby. According to one federal study, more than 1,200 people in and around Libby–some who worked in the mine, but also many who simply lived in the area–have evidence of lung abnormalities attributed to asbestos exposure from the W.R. Grace vermiculite mine. Asbestos diseases, like mesothelioma, are killing Libby residents at 40 times the average rate across the nation. Because so many people in Libby are dying from mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases, the delays in taking W.R. Grace to trial have already meant that some witnesses will not live to see the trial.
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