WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A northwest Montana town where asbestos contamination has killed more than 200 people will get more than $130 million in cleanup and medical assistance from the Obama administration, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday.
Libby, Montana, will get new help dealing with asbestos contamination.
The declaration is the first issued by the agency, which has grappled with the "toxic legacy" of a mine outside Libby, Montana, since 1999, Administrator Lisa Jackson said.
The town was heavily contaminated with asbestos-laced dust that federal prosecutors said resulted in more than 200 deaths and 1,000 illnesses.
"For decades, the disease and death rate from asbestosis in the Libby area was staggeringly high -- much higher than the national average," Jackson told reporters.
Not only did dust from the mine spread all over Libby and the neighboring town of Troy for decades, but tailings from the facility also were used as fill for driveways, gardens and playgrounds, she said.
"Literally no matter where these residents turned, they were being exposed yet again," Jackson said. She said the declaration "should be a reminder of the serious consequences of mismanaging hazardous material."
EPA spokeswoman Adora Andy said $6 million from the Department of Health and Human Services will go to local health care providers to screen, diagnose and treat asbestos-related illnesses, while $125 million will go toward cleaning up contaminated areas. The new commitment brings the total amount the EPA has designated for the Libby area to $333 million, she said.
The agency still needs to conduct "significant research" into the health effects of the type of asbestos that has been spread around town since the 1920s, she said, and does not yet know how many properties will need to be cleaned up.
During Jackson's confirmation hearing in January, Montana Sen. Max Baucus said the valley's 12,000 residents had been "hung out to dry" and pressed Jackson to review the issue. Wednesday, Baucus presented Jackson and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius with a photo of one of his constituents, former miner Les Skramstad.
"He died, and others in Libby have died," said Baucus, a Democrat. "But the decision is the beginning of what needed to be done. It's the first time in American history that we've had this declaration, and I cannot think of a more fitting time and place for it than Libby, Montana."
Baucus is the former chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and now leads the Finance Committee. He is a key architect of a still-being-drafted health care bill the Obama administration has said it wants to see pass this year.
The Libby operation began producing vermiculite -- a mineral often used in insulation -- in 1919. Dust from the plant covered patches of grass, dusted the tops of cars and drifted through the air in a hazy smoke that became a part of residents' daily lives.
But the product was contaminated with tremolite asbestos, a particularly toxic substance that has been linked to mesothelioma, a cancer that can attack the lining of the lungs, abdomen, or heart.
In May, a federal jury acquitted mine operator W.R. Grace and three of its former executives of criminal charges related to the contamination. Grace operated the facility from 1963 until it closed in 1990, and prosecutors argued that its executives knowingly released the substance and tried to hide the danger from the community.
Baucus said that despite the verdict, he still believes the company "knew it was contaminating the town."
"Regrettably, the trial did not conclude the way I thought that it should," he said.
There was no immediate response from the company to the senator's remarks. During the three-month trial, Grace did not deny that the asbestos came from its mine, but it said it acted responsibly to clean up the contamination. It also paid millions in medical bills for area residents, and agreed in 2008 to pay $250 million to reimburse the EPA for its cleanup efforts.
All About U.S. Environmental Protection Agency • Montana • W.R. Grace & Company
For the past ten years, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been overseeing the  asbestos clean-up in the small town of Libby, Montana, which has been on the EPA’s Superfund National Priorities List since 2002.

On Wednesday, the Obama administration declared Libby and the immediate area a "public health emergency".  Under this state of emergency the EPA is increasing clean-up assistance and medical care. According to federal prosecutors, asbestos has taken 200 lives and is the root cause of at least 1,000 illnesses in the surrounding area.
Lisa P. Jackson, Administrator of the EPA
"This is a tragic public health situation that has not received the recognition it deserves by the federal government for far too long," according to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.

In the 1920's The Zonolite Company began producing vermiculite, a mineral that is often used in insulation.  Between 1963 and 1990, W.R. Grace & Company took over the mine operations. Tremolite asbestos was discovered in the vermiculite product.  A study conducted by the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry discovered that the incidence of asbestosis in the population of the mine site area is far higher than the national average.  

Airborne asbestos exposure can lead to mesothelioma, a cancer which develops in the sac surrounding the lungs and chest cavity, the abdominal cavity, or the sac surrounding the heart.  Prolonged exposure can lead to lung scarring, asbestosis, and lung cancer.  Patients diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma generally are left with six months to a year before death.


The tremolite dust from the mine began leaking into the air from the plant in 1919.  This resulted in a hazy asbestos dust cloud covering lawns, cars, clothing, and school athletic fields, creating an issue that citizens of Libby had to deal with on an everyday basis.  The large amount of dust gave the impression of the aftereffects of a light sandstorm.

W. R. Grace and Company did not deny that asbestos was found contaminating the vermiculite in the old mine.  They said they proceeded in a responsible manner to clean up contamination following the mine closure. Grace will reimburse the EPA for US$250 million of the US$333 million that the EPA and the Department of Health and Human Services has set aside for medical expenses and asbestos clean-up.  This money will be invested over the next five years, and does not include the millions in medical costs already footed by the company for residents of Libby and the nearby town of Troy.

"Today is the day that after years of work we were able to succeed in getting this emergency declaration done," Senator from Montana Max Baucus said, speaking at the EPA press conference. "We will continue to push until Libby has a clean bill of health."