It has been three years in the making, but a federal judge has finally set a date for the largest environmental criminal trial in US history. 

Jury selection will begin February 19 in the case against WR Grace Co., alleging that the company knowingly endangering the lives of thousands by exposing them to asbestos-tainted ore from a vermiculite mine right outside of Libby, Montana.

Judge Molloy, the federal judge assigned to the case, is eager to move forward with the trial as it has been roughly two years since the last hearing, and the trial is expected to last nearly four months. Over the years, Molloy has ruled on a number of government efforts to hold WR Grace accountable for the asbestos contamination and has already levied huge fines that add up to hundreds of millions of dollars.  

The thirty three lawyers representing WR Grace in the trial will argue that the people of Libby could not have been harmed by the asbestos in the vermiculite ore. Environmental lawyers say that Grace’s legal team will make their argument with the help of industry-paid-for scientists who will conclude that the asbestos in Libby is not dangerous. In their counter argument, the government can point to hundreds of deaths that appear to be directly linked to asbestos-related diseases in Libby.

From the outset, this trial can be deemed unusual. The case was brought to the Federal Grand Jury just as the Bush administration was trying to force Congress to protect industry from civil asbestos claims. According to congressional investigators, the White House told the EPA and OSHA that it wanted to make sure unwarranted attention was not given for issues involving asbestos safety. 

WR Grace, if found guilty, could be fined up to $280 million, and WR Grace’s executives could receive maximum sentences of 55-70 years. The WR Grace executives that are in danger of being sentenced include Henry Eschenbach, who was the health and safety director in WR Grace's industrial chemical group; Jack Wolter, a former WR Grace vice president; Bill McCaig, an early general manager of the mine; Robert Bettacchi, also a WR Grace senior vice president; O. Mario Favorito, former general counsel for the corporation; and Robert Walsh, who was another senior vice president. A seventh official, Alan Stringer, the last general manager of the Libby mine, was also indicted. He died shortly after pleading not guilty.

A month before Stringer’s death, Les Skramstad, a former Libby miner, died of mesothelioma. Not only did the asbestos take Skramstad’s life, his wife and three children were all exposed to the asbestos through the clothing he wore home from work, and now have all been diagnosed with fatal asbestos-related diseases. Skramstad had hoped to survive to see WR Grace and the company’s executives tried in court.

The Supreme Court today rejected an appeal made by W.R. Grace, the company that owned and operated the vermiculite mines in Libby, Montana.  The new decision allows the case against W.R. Grace to go to trial; in 2005, federal prosecutors accused the company and six of its executives of violating the Clean Air Act.

Grace claimed that under the specifications of the Act, asbestos was not clearly defined and did not necessarily pertain to substances released from the mine.  The claim was rejected by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In April, the company agreed to a $3 billion arrangement that would allow it to emerge from bankruptcy without facing further asbestos liability.  Additionally, Grace must pay $250 million to the federal government for fees incurred when investigating and cleaning the vermiculite mines.

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Chemical maker W.R. Grace & Co. said this morning that it would settle thousands of asbestos-related personal injury claims spanning decades.

The settlement includes $250 million that would be put in a trust. It also includes deferred payments of $110 million per year for five years beginning in 2019 and $100 million per year for ten years beginning in 2024.

Grace filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001 to protect itself from 135,000 asbestos-related claims spanning decades.

There is a new development in the suit against the vermiculite mining company W.R. Grace of Libby, Montana.  Bankruptcy Judge Judith Fitzgerald has rejected an injunction that would have forbade Libby residents from suing the state of Montana over asbestos-exposure complications connected to the mine.  In this ruling, Fitzgerald, who is presiding over W.R. Grace's bankruptcy proceeding, has enabled asbestos victims to sue Montana claiming that the state did not do enough to monitor asbestos contamination prior to the mine closing in the 1990's.