mesothelioma

W. R. Grace & Co. has announced that it will donate $250,000 to St. John’s Lutheran Hospital—the only hospital in Libby, Montana—for the treatment of asbestos-related illnesses like mesothelioma.

See W.R. Grace’s Press Release. This was the tenth year W.R. Grace has contributed to St. Luke’s.

Hospital CEO Bill Patten thanked W.R. Grace for its financial support of the hospital’s work. And it is good to hear that the company will continue to donate to the hospital for the care of Libby’s asbestos victims even though the company was recently found not guilty on criminal charges related to the asbestos contamination in Libby.

Of course, without W.R. Grace’s vermiculite mining operations, Libby wouldn’t be the site of hundreds of cases of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.

W.R. Grace’s vermiculite ore was contaminated with tremolite asbestos. As the ore was broken up and removed, miners were exposed to asbestos fibers. The crushed ore was also offered by W.R.

Grace for use as fill throughout the town of Libby, including under the school running track where the fibers were repeatedly kicked up and inhaled by children and others using the track.

Although federal prosecutors weren’t successful in holding W.R. Grace criminally responsible under the Clean Air Act, evidence came out in that case and in the W.R. Grace bankruptcy proceedings about the company’s knowledge of the danger.

The evidence shows that the company knew about the asbestos contamination in its mine and knew how dangerous it was to the miners and to the residents of Libby. But the company definitely didn’t want the news getting out.

Yes, it is good for W.R. Grace to give money to the hospital that treats some of its many victims, but it certainly doesn’t make W.R. Grace a “good guy” in the story of Libby’s asbestos tragedy.