Montana Cement Company Closes Due To Asbestos Threat

Ash Grove Cement Company in Montana City, Montana closed last Monday after tremolite was found in a company owned quarry two miles from the plant.

State, federal and private investigators have flocked to the plant to test rock and dust samples of the tremolite which can contain asbestos, a dangerous carcinogen. Employees were sent home over a week ago with pay.

Tremolite, when in asbestos form, can lead to asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma, a fatal form of cancer. Symptoms take 20 to 50 years to appear and by the time the disease is diagnosed it is often too later for effective treatment.

Spokeswoman for the federal Mining Safety and Health Administration, Amy Louviere, says industrial hygienists have begun their own testing at the facility. She said her organization does testing separate from the company but test results have not yet been analyzed.

Company tests on the finished Portland cement processed at the plant shows signs of tremolite but not asbestos. State and federal investigators are expected to release their own results at the end of the week or early next week.

Any signs of asbestos will lead to more extensive testing. This would include the rooftops of schools and homes between the quarry and the cement plant to check if community members could have been affected.

Anne Hedges of the Montana Environmental Information Center says, “Although she is happy to hear that there is no asbestos in the fin¬ished Portland cement product, it is equally important to make sure that the material that is mined by the workers, hauled through the center of town and put into the process and dumped in their waste disposal site does not contain asbestos as well.”

The news comes in the wake of the current W.R. Grace case where residents in Libby, Montana were exposed to tremolite asbestos that is responsible for thousands of illnesses and the death of 225 people.

Ash Grove Cement Company has until 5 p.m. today to report their findings to the Department of Environmental Quality.

1. 

   Chris Whitfield says:

   May 10, 2009 at 4:00 pm

   Is there currently asbestos in cement?