Asbestos mine settlement encouraging for Vermont residents
Residents who live near Belvidere Mountain in Vermont hope that a federal settlement with a nearby asbestos mine will help the local economy. With the recent media attention surrounding the mine – once the largest white asbestos mine in the United States, but now closed since the early 1990s – local residents say that there has been more harm from the decline in property value than there ever was from asbestos mine tailings.
Working for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) reached a settlement with G-1 Holdings Inc. to secure the asbestos mine site and keep ATV riders and other people out with fences and gates. G-1 Holdings, which is currently in bankruptcy, will also have to set up and fund a trust to cover up to $7.75 million in costs for containment, monitoring of air quality and some cleanup of the site over the next eight years. The company will also have to cover 8.6% of $300 million in future cleanup costs, pay $850,000 for runoff damage to wetlands and nearby waterways and cover $104,615 at nine Superfund sites across the country.
The Vermont Department of Health issued a report in 2008 that made a connection between health risks and living in towns near the mine, although a later update discounted that connection. Between 1996 and 2005, all five asbestosis-related deaths in nearby towns could be explained by occupational asbestos exposure.
Residents hope that the settlement will put fears to rest that may be causing houses and camps to go unsold, although no one can be sure if they aren’t selling because of asbestos fears or because of the poor economy in general. On the other hand, some residents are worried that cleanup efforts will stir up dust and cause more problems. In any case, local residents have been angry about how the health report and issues at the mine site have been handled.
For the full story, go to Times Argus.
