Jump to full article: New York Times, 2009-02-19
Author: KIRK JOHNSON
Intro: LIBBY, Mont. — A reckoning in one of American history’s worst industrial disasters, which unfolded here over seven decades as an asbestos-tainted mineral was dug from the ground and processed, begins Thursday when five former mine executives go to trial on federal criminal charges.
The case is highly unusual in that prosecutors have generally avoided criminal charges in the broad arena of asbestos law, leaving the issue to the civil courts.
But the story of the now-closed mine and its adjacent mill is different, because it involves not only miners but also their families and neighbors, many of whom became ill just living in this remote northwestern corner of Montana.
At least 200 deaths and thousands of illnesses are known to be related to the town’s exposure to the mine’s billowing dust clouds of vermiculite . . .
The company did ban smoking at the mine in 1978 — smoking compounds the dangers of asbestos, doctors say — and also issued respirator masks to workers. But showers that the miners could have used at the end of their shifts before heading home were ruled out, because they might have overly worried people. . . .
Legal experts say that some of the prosecution’s case could be particularly hard to prove, especially the charges that Grace executives obstructed justice by obfuscating in interviews with investigators at the Environmental Protection Agency, and then conspired to cover up their knowledge of the asbestos risks.
“Companies have a right under the First Amendment, established by the Supreme Court and recently reinforced, to advocate on their own behalf,” said Lester Brickman, a professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York.
Jump to full article » |