< Recalling a Former Miner Who Brought Change

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Heard on All Things Considered

January 24, 2007 - MELISSA BLOCK, host:

Les Skramstad was a mine worker in Libby, Montana, who first helped expose widespread asbestos poisoning in that town. Mr. Skramstad died on Sunday of mesothelioma, a rare cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs.

The asbestos in Libby came from a vermiculite mine owned by W.R. Grace Company and it's killed hundreds of people there. The EPA calls it the worst environmental disaster in the country's history.

In an interview in 2000, Les Skramstad talked about what happened after he was diagnosed with asbestosis.

Mr. LES SKRAMSTAD: And then I got to thinking about those 130 guys that I had worked with, and I started trying to remember if any of them were still alive. And I was having a lot of trouble getting up to five or six out of those 130 guys.

BLOCK: Andrea Peacock knew Mr. Skramstad well. She's author of a book about Libby, Montana, and W.R. Grace. Thanks for being with us.

Ms. ANDREA PEACOCK (Author): My pleasure.

BLOCK: I wonder if you could describe what Les Skramstad did to call attention to what was going on in Libby, Montana. I understand that he was really the first to highlight this problem there.

Ms. PEACOCK: He and a handful of other people had worked for years to bring the problems in Libby to the attention of the state government, to the EPA, to various congressmen and senators, and basically trying to get anyone they could find to listen to them. They basically ended up resorting to the court system. And a number of people did get their cases tried and successfully.

And finally, what happened in 1999 was a reporter from the Seattle Post Intelligencer came through and did pay attention to what they were saying. And that's when the EPA came in and everyone all of a sudden wondered how this could have gone on all these years without anyone knowing about it.

BLOCK: When the EPA did go in to Libby, Montana, what did it find?

Ms. PEACOCK: That the men had been working under conditions which exposed them to this asbestos. That the men brought the asbestos home on their clothes. That the vermiculate or that was disposed off as waste, which a lot of people in Libby use as soil conditioner in their gardens or insulation in their homes, was also contaminated with asbestos. And that this vermiculate, which was used as insulation in somewhere between 15 and 35 million buildings in the United States, was also contaminated with asbestos.

BLOCK: Les Skramtad talked about the effects of this not just on him, but on his family. Let's listen a little bit more of that interview from back in 2000.

Mr. SKRAMSTAD: I have a death sentence. I'm going to die from it. But I'll tell you what's worst than that. I brought that stuff home and I gave it to my wife, and two of our five children have been -

BLOCK: Babies?

Mr. SKRAMSTAD: - diagnosed. They were babies at the time. So here she sits with it. She's headed for the same fate that I have. Two of my kids - I just talked to one of them on the phone a little bit ago. Every time he coughs, a shudder runs through me.

BLOCK: Did Les Skramtad talk to you about his family and friends and the numbers of people who had been affected by this?

Ms. PEACOCK: He did and, you know, one of the things made Les the kind of guy he was is that he felt personal responsibility just by virtue of having worked at the mine for having exposed other people to asbestos-contaminated vermiculate. And he agonized over that.

BLOCK: I've read this about Les Skramtad, that he became very active in politically lobbying on this issue. He would buttonhole members of Congress and say, you know, I'm going to be watching you. You better be doing something about this.

Ms. PEACOCK: Yeah. You know. He wasn't intimidated by people in power at all. He could call on our Senator Max Baucus, or Conrad Burns at the time, or Governor Orosco, and tell him exactly what he thought. That was his way.

BLOCK: Well, Andrea Peacock, thanks very much.

Ms. PEACOCK: Sure. Thank you.

BLOCK: Writer Andrea Peacock talking about Les Skramtad of Libby, Montana, who died on Sunday at age 70. Ms. Peacock's book is titled "Libby, Montana: Asbestos and the Deadly Silence of an American Corporation."

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