Document 1ga5YXjB3roj6KNjm3Mnk7vea

FILE NAME: WR Grace (WRG) DATE: January 1965 DOC#: WRG 147 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: 1965 Memo to G.W. Blackwood from J.A. Kelley regarding dust situation at Libby T Cr W ZONOLITE DIV ISION W . R. G R A C E &. C O . INTER-OFFICE CORRESPONDENCE D iet. January 8, n ... January 13. 1965 1965 ________ C a m b rid g e ______ F u rther to m y le tte r of January 7 and com plying w ith your previous . .. . re q u e st about full in fo rm a tio n and d ire c tio n r e g a r d in g th e d u st ; -feituation* a t L ibby/i-l m - a tta c h in g a h is to r y of th e e n tir e dust, m a tte r . . at Libby'w ritt'ri' by E a rl Lbvick-as w ell as a dust cpnt-roLirpbirt b j7 . ' Bleich. ' ' : ; . , * > .'** " rs-./.j As you' Know^ Svab at''Libby *anLwe re v ie w e d th is .e n tir e sitalaticru.-.; T here is an im m ediate step needed and *rhrch*had been planned for additional dust collection in the dry m ill which is w here our g reatest . trouble is. The purpose for this is to bring our dust count in line with the dust recom m endations of the M ontana State H ealth D epartm ent, I should say that I found that the State of M ontana had inspected Libby -^oa-seyeral-O ecasions and for the firs t tim e I saw the rep o rts which 7w ere^reiyed_^-at Libby but never, sent to m e. Our re c o rd is not as wn~ iV^_iCauTa~5~o~TnTi f i r ~sa W e ^ a a d e ~ ~ ` som e im provem ent but not nearlyenough. The second-im portant decision m ade at Libby w as th at we would m ove as. fast as p o ssib le to elim in ate th e d ry m ill. T h is has been our plan all along but because of our balance problem we could not see the light as to when this could be done. We m ust engineer the whole job and I would hope that we could tie down som e kind of a d efin ite plan by S e p tem b er 1, 1 9 6 5 ^ We ju s t s im p ly co u ld not affo rd the cost of rehab ilitatin g the p re se n t d ry m ill co n cen tratin g c irc u its to make it a m odern and com pletely dust free operation. You understand that we a re not talking about elim inating the screen in g portions of the dry m ill which a re n e c e ssa ry a fte r the concentrates have been dried, but the products handled in the screen in g station should be relatively free of asbestos and sin ce no concentrating is involved can be ra th e r fully enclosed and ventilated. PLAINTIFF'S ^AA7EXHftIB/IT . w AU-STATt UOM, M K 7 C A G. W. Blackwood - 2 - January 13, 1965 - A s^p revitmyy;_xegorted to you, the situ atio n w ith re g a rd to the doctors andM arylSm i5G asualty..is_under control and we w ill aw ait their advice as to anything further th atsh o u ld be done. I am directing Floyd Stew art, who expects to be in Libby in M arch, to m ake-a thorough inspection as a follow-up to B leich's re p o rt on each of the various dust producing points. I should add further that the conversation with D r. N elson certain ly indicated that th ere m ay be a long-term problem w ith som e of our employees at Libby. No one knows ju st what effect the d u st in the m ill .and in the o p eratio n has upon an individual b ecau se we have a ll 1 of th'e e x tre m e s .. We have so m e m en who have w o rk e d in d u sty a tm o sp h e res ;fo r 'fcnany.years and show no. d iffic u lty an d o th e rs who a re relatively new em ployees working in less dusty atm ospheres wlm have tro u b le , and th en th e re .-ar e $ lL s hades.-in betw een . By a n ew sp ap er-'a c c o u n t; t h g c ity of Libby* has an a i r p o llu tio n p ro b lem which is a r e s u lt .-bt-h y d ro c a rb o n s com ing fro m autom obiles, and oil b u rn e rs a s w e ll a s fro m J . `N e ils ' lu m b e r op^rafcton.* N one of o u r o p e ra tio n s c o n trib u te to a i r pollu tio n in t h e 'to w n 'except.^the sporadic occasional operation of the expanding plant which is down ` - a town. . g ro w s-.^ c C lr-T O t^ f.th e .m in e ra ls in any of our dust would _ s has a known-record for harm fulness. Of co u rse, w e ~ f e h arm ful and the only answ er is control. I have m aae r^hhy and have insisted that every effort be made for dust as well as insistance upon the use of re sp ira to rs by em ployees w here they a re n ecessary and required. Your c ritic ism and com m ents would be appreciated. Sincerely, JAK:pf J. A. K elley !.. i * . * 2009410