Senator Max Baucus in Libby Feb. 24
Community meeting, 1:30, Libby City Hall
February 23, 2005
Montana Senator Max Baucus will be in Libby on Thursday, February 24th, at 1:30 pm at the Libby City Hall Council Chambers for a community meeting to discuss asbestos issues. Senator Baucus is hosting the meeting to help address ongoing health care and redevelopment efforts following years of asbestos exposure by the W.R. Grace Company. The Council Chambers are located at 952 East Spruce Street in Libby.
Town officials, Lincoln County Commissioners, and staff from the Center for Asbestos-Related Diseases (CARD) will be on hand for the public meeting which will focus on the asbestos cleanup and long-term health care for Libby residents. Residents, and anyone with questions or concerns, are invited to attend the meeting.
Last Wednesday, Baucus spoke with Mike Leavitt, the former EPA Administrator and new Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services, that more must be done to help people in Libby afford health care after being exposed to deadly asbestos fibers by the W.R. Grace Company. Baucus told Leavitt that affording quality health care in Libby remains one of the biggest hurdles the town is working to overcome following years of asbestos exposure by the defunct W.R. Grace Vermiculite mine that operated there until 1990.
Senator Baucus also took the opportunity to enlist Leavitt's support behind establishing a new research center in both Missoula and Libby that will help develop long-term solutions for treating people with asbestosis and related diseases.
The Senator has helped secure millions of federal dollars for cleanup, health care, and economic development. He was the first high-ranking elected official to visit Libby in 1999, and he's since been there personally more than 15 times.
Senator Baucus said he also wants to direct more federal resources to the Center for Asbestos Related Diseases, which he helped establish in 2000. The CARD clinic has done a tremendous job providing health care and screening for Libby residents, but Baucus says additional federal dollars will help provide more and better care.
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