Another W.R. Grace Asbestos cleanup is taking place in the small city of Easthampton, Massachusetts.The plant ran from 1949 to 1989. It is reported that the plant received 258,000 tons of asbestos-contaminated vermiculite ore from Libby, Montana.
The Easthampton plant manufactured Grace’s Zonolite attic insulation. There is not a set time frame for the project yet. $750,000 has been approved for the project. The soil in under a 1000-foot section of land and is 6 to 12 inches below the surface.
W.R. Grace is a global supplier of specialty chemicals. The company went bankrupt in 2001 when they got hit with several asbestos-related claims. The company agreed to pay $34 million for cleanup costs at 32 different sites in 18 states across the country.
Asbestos exposure has been linked to several forms of cancer, including lung cancer and mesothelioma. Mesothelioma cancer is particularly pernicious because it can take 20 years or more for symptoms to appear. This makes it difficult to diagnose and, in fact, a diagnosis is usually a death sentence.
W.R. Grace had another plant in Libby, Montana from 1963 until 1990. It shipped many tons of asbestos-laced vermiculite around the world. It is estimated that around 70 percent of the world’s insulation, fireproofing, and gardening products used vermiculite that came from Libby. But residents of the Libby area are in an epidemic of asbestos-related diseases and the residents have been dying of asbestosis at a rate 40 to 80 times normal.
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