The Environmental Protection Agency is working with officials from both the City of Libby and Montana’s Lincoln County Health Board to implement institutional controls. These measures would protect the public from any remaining contaminants like asbestos around Libby. Exposure to asbestos can lead to mesothelioma, a rare but aggressive form of cancer. Mesothelioma affects thousands of Americans each year, and has killed hundreds in Libby in recent years.

“The objective of institutional controls is to make sure people don’t come into contact with any contamination that’s left on that site. So, if they do come in contact, you need to know what to do … that’s the main objective,” said Rebecca Thomas, the EPA’s remedial project manager. The measures would be applied to sites around Libby, including the contaminated site known as Operable Unit 1, which was once an export plant.

Libby mayor Doug Roll wants the city to take the lead on setting these guidelines. “The city would like to retain almost complete control,” Roll said. “We want to be the ones you go to first with what the institutional controls will be. We will use the City/County Health Board as a backup sort of thing. This is our specific property and it’s all in one piece. I think the city wants to be the lead on this.”

Thomas says that having institutional controls in place can help to protect human health and the environment, warn anyone using the property about the potential for residual asbestos contamination, and provide guidance on dealing with the remaining asbestos.

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