Enoree, South Carolina - John Adams, of Enoree, South Carolina, is about to get a new neighbor: W.R. Grace & Company want to dig a six-acre vermiculite mine on land that borders his property.

John Adams and Larry Saylor, both of whom live adjacent to the land where the company hopes to dig the mine, are concerned because the presence of the mine will lower property values. More importantly, they’re concerned about the possible effects the mine might have on the health of people who live near it.

W.R. Grace & Company have already made one town sick with their vermiculite mining activities. More than 1,200 residents of Libby, Montana have developed asbestos-related diseases as a result of working in or living near the company’s vermiculite mine, which operated until 1990. The vermiculite mine in Libby is contaminated with asbestos.

The Libby vermiculite was marketed under the brand name Zonolite as an insulation, and under the name Monokote as a spray-on plaster coating. Both products were heavily used for decades. It is believed that asbestos-contaminated Zonolite insulation is present in millions of American homes.

The tragedy that occurred in Libby as a result of the asbestos contamination isn’t guaranteed to happen again. Not all vermiculite mines are contaminated with asbestos. But the devastating problems that have plagued that Montana town are serious enough to worry those who live near the planned mine site.

W.R. Grace & Company has been indicted by a federal grand jury for “knowingly endangering residents of Libby, Montana and concealing information about the health effects of its asbestos mining operations.”

The company already operates a vermiculite mine in Enoree, and has permission to dig in more than 30 other South Carolina locations. According to the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control, it’s not likely that vermiculite mines in the state are contaminated with asbestos because the geology is different from that in Libby.

A spokesperson for the agency said that they have told W.R. Grace & Company that they will need to test for asbestos at current and new vermiculite mining facilities to ensure there is no asbestos present.

W.R. Grace says the company is listening to residents who are concerned about health and safety issues. The company has an industrial hygiene program that involves testing vermiculite at three separate stages of production to ensure it’s safe for workers and the public.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 5:19 pm and is filed under Asbestos Exposure, Jobsite Exposure, South Carolina. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.