Last Tuesday, large chunks of vermiculite were found in the Riverfront Memorial park of Libby, Montana. How they got there, however, remains a mystery. While checking the area where a pavilion is to be built along the Kootenai River, Mike Cirian, remedial on-sight project manager with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, found a 6-inch wide, 50-yard long line of vermiculite. It was found in a high traffic area that follows the length of the parking lot near the boat ramp and pavilion building site. He immediately sent vac trucks to the area for emergency cleanup and informed the City of Libby as well as the Libby Police.
Cirian believes the chunks were too big to come from underground and they didn’t come off any of the contractors’ trucks doing the multi-million Superfund asbestos cleanup. “I’m pretty sure it’s been there less than a couple weeks,” Cirian said. “This isn’t something you miss. These are large flake, silver-dollar-sized chunks of vermiculite.” The vermiculite had been tracked up and down the parking lot by vehicles, creating a 12,000-square-foot of space to be cleaned of potential contamination.
The park, formerly the old Export Plant site, has been cleaned at least three times in the past. One was a removal action performed by W.R. Grace; the second occurred during the building of the boat ramp; and the third was the EPA’s cleanup of the park, digging down as far as 18 inches. “If — and the emphasis is on the word ‘if’ — somebody is purposely dumping contaminated vermiculite, it’s a really serious situation of endangering the public,” said Libby Mayor Tony Berget. “People could potentially kick up and inhale the dust containing the deadly fibers while driving through the parking lot.”
Two years ago, Environmental Restoration’s parking lot received a similar mysterious deposit of vermiculite. However, it was reported that no one intentionally put it there. Cirian hopes that it is the same this time as well. He said he can’t speculate as to how the vermiculite appeared, but hoped it was a costly mistake, not something done intentionally.
Libby police chief Clay Coker said they are opening an investigation into last week’s spill, and could potentially punish an assailant under a felony Criminal Mischief law, which includes vandalism or tampering with property to endanger or interfere with its use, with damages over $1,000.“In the future, if we identify the suspect, we’ll not only prosecute, we’ll hand it off to other appropriate federal agencies that would also prosecute.” At this point there are no known suspects but the law enforcement is on the lookout for any suspicious activity. Coker said, “If we see anyone moving around after hours, and lo and behold they have a bag of vermiculite on the seat, we will stop and identify them.”
