Asbestos News

The Troy City Council is still undecided on whether or not to allow contaminated soil from residential properties to be buried on city-owned properties or to have an agency in charge of the Troy, Montana, asbestos cleanup find an alternative site.

According to The Western News, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has started removing insulation containing asbestos from Troy area homes, and then transporting the material to an asbestos cell at the Libby landfill. However, when the agency starts removing contaminated soil from yards, it proposes disposing of it in a gravel pit next to a closed landfill southeast of Troy.

"Environmental law is in constant transition, and you guys are embroiled in making a decision today based on information you have today and about monetary gain you have today," Lana Manahan, a resident who is an opponent of the proposal, as her property borders the proposed landfill, told the news source."But you do not know that the transition may become an absolute gargantuan liability," she added.

The DEQ has agreed to pay the city $15 per cubic yard of soil it disposes of, with a guaranteed minimum of 15,000 cubic yards, according to the news source.

Asbestos was commonly used in building materials in the early 1900s, but since the 1970s it has been linked with the onset of mesothelioma, a rare and deadly disease. The effects of asbestos inhalation are hard to diagnose since symptoms can take up to several decades to surface.