June 15th, 2006
The US Environmental Protection Agency has stated that no presence of toxic asbestos has been found near the former W.R. Grace plant site. Over 40 soil samples were recently taken from a two mile radius surrounding the former plant site, and the EPA has stated that following testing none of the samples were found to be contaminated.
The W.R. Grace plant closed in the mid 1990s, and at that time Grace officials told the state that there was no contamination around the site. The former plant, which was used for the processing of asbestos containing vermiculite, had been in operation for 40 years.
However, this was disputed by former workers who claimed that the site was in fact contaminated. After tests were carried out at that time by the state, it was found that there was a high level of contamination at the site, and W.R. Grace was sued for over 1.5 billion dollars. Nine thousand tons of toxic soil had to be removed from the site.
After the most recent test results Hamilton Mayor Glen Gilmore stated: "The workers are still haunted by the legacy of W.R. Grace and will be for the rest of their lives. 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."
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