Missoula, Mont. - On Feb. 24, 2009, the jury listened to opening statements from defense lawyers and a federal prosecutor in what has been described as the most significant trial of its kind ever heard in an American courtroom. The criminal proceedings center around the prosecution of six former executives from the Chemical manufacturing giant, W.R. Grace & Company-seven men had originally been indicted, though, one of the defendants has since died.
All the former Grace executives are charged with, among other things, conspiring to violate provisions of the government's Clean Air Act while they presided over various corporate departments at Grace. The defendants are specifically charged with "knowingly" and "willfully" endangering the health of workers and townspeople in and around Grace's Zonolite Mountain vermiculite mine near Libby, Montana. Grace's problems stem from the fact that its vermiculite, a popular insulation and soil aeration product, was contaminated with asbestos-a known cancer-causing agent. In an indictment dating back to 2004, federal prosecutors allege that the charged executives conspired to raise company profits by concealing the well known dangers of its worker/citizen exposures to the hazard material.
Asbestos is a mineral that occurs naturally in the soil or in exposed outcroppings in countries around the globe. Once widely used in a variety of products and industrial processes, asbestos is now banned in many of the nations where the substance can be found. In the 1970s, scientific and medical investigations confirmed that airborne, microscopic asbestos fibers could be inhaled into the lungs, where these fibers could remain undetected and dormant for periods of up to 50 years before finally causing the onset of serious respiratory diseases such as the dreaded and incurable lung cancer killer known as malignant pleural mesothelioma.
While asbestos exists in a broad spectrum of chemical compositions, colors, and types, no safe level of exposure to asbestos-in any form-has ever been scientifically established. The mineral is considered to be extremely toxic to human health, and in the Grace trial, the government alleges that the chemical company executives knew full well the dangers Grace's mining operations had posed to its workers and members of the Libby community at large.
Defense lawyers disagree. "There's no question that the miners and their families suffered tragic losses as a consequence of the operation of this mine," said defense attorney, David M. Bernick in his opening statements to the jury. "But this case requires you to focus on what it is that counts." Bernick is just one of approximately 30 defense lawyers who will attempt to convince the jury that the six executives were little more than blue collar managers who knew little about the science relating to asbestos-caused disease. The defense will portray the defendants as individuals who also lived and worked in Libby during the period when the worst asbestos contaminations took place-that they weren't the calloused killers the government makes them out to be.
Cold-hearted killers who should face up to 15 years in prison and millions in fines if convicted of the charges? Yes, this is what the government contends. "This case is about a company that mined and manufactured a hazardous product, and individual executives who chose profit at the expense of people's health, and chose avoiding liability over disclosing the health hazard to the government," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Kris McLean in his opening statements at the trial.
The case has long been awaited by the citizens of Libby, where over 1,200 individuals have either died or been sickened by asbestos exposures. Sentiments run high against Grace in a town where angry residents are quick to point to a local cemetery when asked to identify the victims of Grace's alleged crimes. A proceeding that many have called the corporate pollution trial of the century is finally underway-an emotional ordeal for the citizens of Montana that is expected to last 3-4 months.
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