The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is scheduled to begin testing the air quality of several dozen residences in northeast Minneapolis. The EPA will be looking for asbestos contamination in the homes, which are located in a neighborhood polluted by a former insulation factory. For 50 years, until 1989, the W.R. Grace Co. and Western Mineral Products Inc. (Grace’s predecessor), manufactured home insulation products that contained vermiculite ore from Montana, which was laced with asbestos. Grace provided its asbestos waste at no charge to unsuspecting local homeowners who used the substance as fill in their homes’ driveways and gardens. The neighborhood’s kids also made use of the cast-off asbestos. The carcinogen was poured into sandboxes; wagon-loads of it were used to build a baseball infield; and young drivers in high school learned that it helped to give their cars better traction on icy roads in winter.
One local resident, Terry Thiele, 61, said that he and his entire family have scarred lungs caused by exposure to the asbestos in their neighborhood. Thiele’s father died from mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer.
Between 2000 and 2004, the EPA removed asbestos-contaminated soil from hundreds of yards in the neighborhood. If the scheduled air testing reveals even more contamination, the agency will step up its testing and cleanup efforts. EPA officials expect the now bankrupt W.R.Grace to reimburse the government for most of the cost of the area clean up, which to date exceeds $14 million.
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