Former Grace Environmental Engineer Testifies

A former environmental engineer for W.R. Grace & Co. testified on Monday that he collected asbestos-tainted air samples at the high school track in Libby, Montana. The former engineer, Randy Geiger, collected the data by running laps at the track while wearing a monitoring device.

Geiger worked with his wife to collect the samples. He administered the test after W.R. Grace had donated waste from its Libby vermiculite mine for the running track’s foundation.

“I didn’t have a lot of time to come up with a method,” Geiger said. “I can remember putting on my track shoes from my high school days and going out. I was in front and my wife was behind me and I tried to kick up a little dust.”

Geiger and his wife ran on the track for 30 minutes while wearing an air pump to collect the samples.

The engineer then submitted the results to a lab, where it was discovered that high concentrations of harmful asbestos fibers were present.

Inhalation of asbestos is linked to illnesses such as mesothelioma.

Based on those results, Grace Supervisors asked Geiger to determine whether removing the asbestos or replacing the track would be more cost-effective. The track was ultimately paved over with blacktop in 1981.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy told jurors not to consider Geiger’s testimony as proof of an asbestos release, or as proof of whether the release caused endangerment.

Because the Clean Air Act’s criminal provision did not exist prior to 1990, Judge Molloy stated that the testimony of Mr. Geiger could only speak to whether or not Grace Executives lied about the dangers associated with company activities.