Baucus has long been upset that the EPA has never declared a public health emergency in Libby, where hundreds of people have died or become ill from exposure to asbestos unearthed at the nearby and now-defunct W.R. Grace and Co. vermiculite mine.
Such a declaration would have made Libby homes and buildings a top priority for cleanup by the EPA, and opened avenues for medical care for residents.
“Words cannot express my anger over this,” Baucus said. “There was a pile of vermiculite sitting outside the place we send our kids to learn. Our government has failed us in Libby.”
“I think heads should roll at EPA,” he went on.
According to Asa Wood principal Marjorie O'Brien-Johnson, heavy snowfall prompted officials to close the school on Friday, Feb. 1, so the roof could be cleared of snow.
The snow was pushed to the edges of the flat-top roof and, over the weekend, removed and hauled away.
At some point, one of the pieces of machinery being used apparently hit the building hard enough to punch a hole in the wall, about 2 feet above the ground.
It also packed snow into the hole, which remained hidden because of snow depths on the ground.
“But we've been having warmer weather lately, and that exposed the hole,” O'Brien-Johnson said.
Mike Cirian, the EPA's on-site remedial project manager in Libby, said less than one-quarter yard of vermiculite - about half an outdoor garbage can's worth - spilled onto the ground after the snow melted.
According to Cirian, a student at the kindergarten-through-third-grade school picked up some of the vermiculite at afternoon recess Friday and showed it to a teacher. O'Brien-Johnson said the teacher immediately removed students from the area and informed her of the situation.
She called Cirian, who said within 90 minutes a contractor was removing the material from the playground, and it was cleaned up within two hours of being discovered.
Cirian said he did not know if the vermiculite posed any danger to the child who touched it.
“We know that excessive exposure to asbestos over long periods of time can lead to cancer-related illnesses,” Cirian said. “We know it was vermiculite and we're pretty sure it came from the mines here. How much asbestos was in it? I have no idea. We had it cleaned up and out of there in two hours.”
The wall was made of concrete masonry units - the concrete blocks with holes in them - and the vermiculite had been poured in the openings when the school was constructed.
After a staff meeting Monday, the school brought Cirian in Tuesday to talk to the children about vermiculite and its hazards.
O'Brien-Johnson said she was surprised how much the students already knew about the subject that has dominated Libby for years.
“I was, too,” said Cirian, who put on protective gear so he could handle and show the youngsters what vermiculite looks like, urge them to never touch it if they see it, and tell them to inform a parent or teacher about it immediately.
“A lot of the kids have parents who work with the contractors we use,” he said. “And a lot of them had grandparents who worked at the mines and were exposed to it. I'd say the kids already had more knowledge about asbestos than the majority of people in the United States.”
The school also sent letters home with the students to inform parents about what had happened.
Baucus, who was also unhappy it took EPA officials five days to inform his office about the incident, said the whole thing was just “further proof that a public health emergency should have been declared.”
As recently as August, Baucus brought EPA chief Steven Johnson to Libby, where Johnson was quoted as saying his agency's goal was to “be sure Libby ends up being a place where people can live, work and play without fear.”
Lincoln County commissioners have testified that Johnson's predecessor, Christine Whitman, assured them a public health emergency would be declared in Libby.
Baucus has charged that the Bush White House then pressured Whitman and the EPA not to do so, because of the millions of dollars it would cost.
Johnson has denied that, saying the EPA had found ways to accomplish the same things without declaring the emergency.
But Baucus seized on the incident at Asa Woods Elementary School to again put the EPA's feet to the fire.
“It's an outrage,” he said. “I want a clean bill of health for Libby, once and for all.”
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