EPA Finds No Remaining Asbestos near New Jersey W.R. Grace Plant

June 19, 2006 - After searching a two-mile area surrounding the former W.R. Grace vermiculite processing plant in Hamilton, New Jersey, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that the area is free of toxic asbestos.

The EPA took forty samples from both recreational and residential areas near the old plant, which closed in 1995 after 40 years.  The agency reports that none of the samples contain asbestos at this time.

An Associated Press article which appeared in the The Trentonian newspaper notes that W.R. Grace officials had tried to tell the town that the area was clean when they left more than a decade ago, but former workers maintained that the area was contaminated.  Many of those employees had already become sickened with asbestos-related diseases such as asbestosis and mesothelioma, a very aggressive cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs and for which the only known cause is asbestos exposure. 

The workers were right.  Tests performed shortly after the closure of the plant found that it was heavily contaminated, and the state removed 9,000 tons of toxic soil and filed a $1.6 billion civil suit against W.R. Grace, according to the AP article.

"The workers are still haunted by the legacy of W.R. Grace and will be for the rest of their lives," Hamilton Mayor Glen Gilmore told The Trentonian. "It's good news that the test results came back negative and from this terrible incident we are literally changing laws in our state to impose much higher environmental standards."