About this series

Les Skramstad and his wife, Norita, have both been diagnosed with asbestosis. Les worked for several years in the vermiculite mine in Libby. Sitting in their kitchen one recent November afternoon, his wife recalls shaking the dust out of his clothes for washing and how “they never ever got clean.” Photo by CHARLOTTE RUSHTON/for the Missoulian

The reporters for this 1999 series, Shannon Dininny, Ericka Schenck Smith and Benjamin Shors, were graduate students at the University of Montana School of Journalism. Their research for the series was conducted over two months as part of a class project under the guidance of UM journalism professor Dennis Swibold.

Sunday: As the legal wrangling wears on between W.R. Grace and former miners, the number of people who remember the early days at the Libby mine is dwindling.

Also Sunday: There's no healthy type of asbestos, but it was the misfortune of dozens of Libby residents to be exposed to an extremely toxic odorless, tasteless and almost invisible form of the mineral fiber.

Monday & Wednesday: Government agencies are now coming together to study the ongoing problem in Libby.