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May 28, 2010
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May 14, 2010, 4:44:19 AM
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:iconrocamiadesign:
BEAUTIFUL LIBBY - SUPERFUND POSTER CHILD

Enter an internet search for Libby, and the first thing that will come up is news about the ecological disaster that decimated the town's population. READ THE LATEST ARTICLE HERE".

Libby used to be a paradise. It sits in one of the lowest elevations in Montana, by the beautiful Kootenai River, a summer vacationer's dream. My family and I used to spend almost every summer there.

Now, Libby is known as the deadliest Superfund site in United States history. The W.R. Grace vermiculite mine has been in operation since 1963. A study in the 1980s showed that 70 percent of the miners had fibers in their lungs. In this new century, the children of the miners have been showing up in local clinics with asbestos related lung diseases. My dad worked in a sawmill in Libby in the 70s and ended up with emphysema when he was in this thirties.

The thing that really makes me angry is that some court judge has decided that W.R. Grace isn't responsible for all the deaths in this town. After decades of coverups, the court ruled that the company didn't know that asbestos was dangerous to health!

(This photograph was taken by my son, Shaun Emerson - :icondreamz-of-twilight:)

THIS MEMORIAL DAY, LET US REMEMBER THE MINERS AND THEIR FAMILIES who have died and will die because of one company's greed. I have trouble believing that they didn't know asbestos was harmful. I was 8 years old, the year W.R. Grace started operating the mine, and I was old enough at the time to understand that asbestos was dangerous and avoid contact with it.

- Kathleen -


5/28/10 - Featured in THE WORLD AS WE SEE IT Group at RedBubble.
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:iconkhaos-pants:
~Khaos-Pants May 29, 2010
WR Grace Murdered me.
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:iconrocamiadesign:
*rocamiadesign May 31, 2010   Digital Artist
I am so sorry to hear that. We've lost many friends because of WR Grace. It makes me see red, every time I think about that company and the fact that they are getting away with it. I don't know how much of my husband's lung problems are due to the time he lived in Libby and how much is due to smoking, but getting emphysema in your early thirties seems awfully young to attribute to cigarettes alone.
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:iconvelvet--glove:
=Velvet--Glove May 29, 2010
I read that news report you linked to - it's hard to believe such a beautiful town could be so deadly. I think it's scandalous too. :( Thanks for sharing the story and the photograph.
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:iconrocamiadesign:
*rocamiadesign May 29, 2010   Digital Artist
Thank you for taking the time to read the article. It burns me up, just thinking about it. Libby was our favorite vacation spot, and now we're afraid to spend time there. I have to wonder how much of my husband's health problems were caused by breathing the air there when he was working in the sawmill. An accident in the mill ended his work there, and caused lasting problems with his back, but it probably saved his life, because he moved to find work elsewhere.
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:iconvelvet--glove:
=Velvet--Glove May 29, 2010
Shame about the recreational loss but it certainly sounds fortuitous that your husband is out of the area now. :nod:

:hug:
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:iconmichaelcrane:
!MichaelCrane May 29, 2010
Very well said, Kathleen. Mining companies...like oil companies...are only concerned with their bottom line. I grew up in Great Falls, and the scars that mining companies and coal fired power companies have left all over Montana always burn my ass. I will, in my own way, join you and yours on Memorial Day to remember mines and their familes (God bless them all) who have and will die because of the greed of so many companies.
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:iconrocamiadesign:
*rocamiadesign May 29, 2010   Digital Artist
There was a mining company Eastern Montana that took the trouble to hire a group of New York miners who had been laid off. These people jumped at the opportunity and moved their belongings to Montana. One week after they started work the company laid them off. There were no apoligies or help with moving, so they were stuck here, where the job opportunities are worse than they were in New York.
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:iconmichaelcrane:
!MichaelCrane May 31, 2010
This kind of madness doesn't surprise me anymore. I love Montana, and always will, but it seems so much of it now belongs to big companies.
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