Libby, Montana: Asbestos and the Deadly Silence of an American Corporation

Rating:
Summary: This book will haunt you
Review: Author Andrea Peacock has crafted a thorough and thoroughly human portrait of the tragedy of Libby, Montana.

For decades, a vermiculite mine there, operated most recently by the W.R. Grace Corp., was poisoning the people of Libby with asbestos. Many people knew this and many others suspected, yet they allowed it to continue.

This book connects with the reader immediately, as Peacock tells the poignant stories of families that were affected. The voice belongs to them; the author, obviously a good listener, gently paints the scene and allows her sources to speak.

Well researched, the book takes the reader into the lab to learn why asbestos is so dangerous, and why Libby asbestos is deadlier still. It also documents in detail how scientists associated with the mining industry knew the dangers of asbestos decades before that knowledge reached the public.

Peacock does an admirable job of trying to explain the side of those within Grace, but for the most part those folks aren't talking. It's no wonder, considering the damning paper trail she has uncovered. Others, such as the Libby real estate agent who worries what a Superfund designation will do to the local economy, get even-handed treatment.

Most ominously, the book foreshadows what might become a sequel: officials in New York downplaying the threat of Libby asbestos spread in the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.

In the end, this book raises questions that neither Peacock nor the reader can answer. How can human beings inflict such evil on their fellow man? How can otherwise decent people rationalize such actions away in the face of overwhelming evidence? And how many other Libby, Montanas are out there right now under our noses?

Rating:
Summary: Disturbing, enlightening, and moving.
Review: Despite being a relatively recent transplant to Montana, I've had the benefit of traveling throughout most of the state, and have had the good fortune of spending some time in Libby. Before I moved here, my knowledge of the fallout of W.R. Grace's mining operations there was limited to what I'd seen on "60 Minutes." After visiting Libby & working with a few folks from the town, the story held a much more personal interest for me--so I sought out this book to learn more.

I really couldn't put this book down once I'd started reading--Peacock does a wonderful job of detailing the history of Grace's (ongoing) policies of deceit, to such a degree that I found myself literally wondering aloud "how could they DO this?" over & over. On the other hand, I felt that her depiction of the Libby townspeople's part in the tragedy was also fair; not overly harsh, but also not glossing over the roles that complacent plant managers had in perpetuating the policies that Grace officials were handing down (despite the evidence of an impending public health disaster). The section on the possibility of a massive public health crisis in NYC (due to the use of Libby vermiculite as insulation in the World Trade Center buildings) ought to be required reading for every New Yorker, in my opinion.

All in all, I feel that this is a crucial exploration of not only one small Montana town's problem, but also of a much larger set of problems that every community faces. When the unethical practices of corporations like W.R. Grace go unchecked, it results in disaster for everyone.

Rating:
Summary: More true than true and worse than anyone could believe!
Review: I was born in this town, Libby, Montana. Eventhough I grew up eighteen miles away in Troy, I knew most of the families mentioned in the book. My high school field trip was a day trip to the mine, the dry processing plant, the expansion plant, the loading docks. All through junior high and high school, we had track meets next to the railroad tracks where the trains were loaded with the ore. What she says in her book is true, no one told anyone that the ore was harmful, or even had asbestos in it. No one said a word, and if anyone asked, they were told it was "nuisance dust." It was such a cover-up that I had to read the Seattle PI account twice before I believed it.
I applied for a job at the mine when I went to college. That was thirty years ago. If I had gotten that job, chances are I would be dead, just like my father. Dad never worked at the mine, but he drove by it several times a week to maintain some radio equipment on top of the mountain. Several times a week for twenty-six years and he died of Mesothelioma.