Today’s mesothelioma victims were exposed to asbestos decades ago, with most having been exposed on the job. When the dangers of the mineral were revealed, most asbestos companies discontinued its use, but many of the sites where it was mined, processed, and used in manufacturing or as an insulating or strengthening agent were contaminated by the extensive use of the product.
To address the risk that sites contaminated with toxic materials pose to their surrounding community, Congress created a Superfund to pay for their cleanup. As of June 2024, there were 1,340 sites on the National Priority List for cleanup, many of which earned their status due to asbestos contamination.[1]
What is a Superfund Site?
Superfund sites are sites managed under a federal environmental remediation program established by Congress in 1980. Administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980 empowered the EPA to step in and take action when land was contaminated with high levels of hazardous materials. It also gives the agency the ability to identify the potentially responsible parties (PRP) and compel them to either clean up their sites or pay damages for others to perform the cleanup. When no responsible party is available to pay, funding is provided by the Hazardous Substance Superfund created by Congress.[2]
What Qualifies as a Superfund Site?
To qualify as a Superfund site, a location must be identified by the EPA as having been contaminated by hazardous materials and a candidate for cleanup. The question of whether a site qualifies is not based on the amount of contamination as much as whether the government determines that it needs to step in because the area poses an immediate and significant health risk to the public and/or environment.[3]
Superfunds are frequently manufacturing facilities, processing plants, landfills, or mining sites where hazardous waste was dumped, left out in the open, or mismanaged. Though several different types of contaminants lead to a site being identified by the EPA, many named sites are locations where asbestos was either mined, processed, or disposed of. Other locations are where buildings constructed using asbestos-contaminated materials were located, where the material was so heavily used that it has persisted and created a risk to health or the environment, or both.[4]
When a site is called to the EPA’s attention, it is assessed using the Hazard Ranking System, a numerically based screening system that uses collected data to determine how much risk it poses to human health or the environment. Sites that have scores equal to or above a certain level are placed on the National Priorities List (NPL), which makes them eligible for Superfund Trust Fund-financed remedial actions.
What Happens When a Superfund Site is Identified?
Though Superfund site cleanup and management is administered by the EPA, the actions taken are outlined and authorized under CERCLA. Though every site is different and requires different types of cleanup, CERCLA authorizes two different types of actions to address contamination:
- Short-term removal actions to address releases or threatened releases that require a prompt response.
- Long-term actions that permanently and significantly reduce the risk of release of hazardous substances. Long-term actions are only authorized at sites that are on the National Priorities List.
How is Asbestos Contamination Addressed at a Superfund Site?
The EPA lists 13 Superfund sites with asbestos contamination. They include abandoned mining or factory operations, disposal sites with asbestos-containing building materials, and disturbances of naturally occurring asbestos.[6] Cleanup of an asbestos-contaminated site requires highly specific actions designed to mitigate the mineral’s unique characteristics, and more is being learned every day about the best ways to address the challenges that they pose. When asbestos is damaged, it breaks down into microscopic particles that are easily inhaled or ingested, which is what leads to malignant mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, and other asbestos-related diseases.
The EPA historically managed asbestos-contaminated sites by burying the toxic waste and then capping it with layers of organic matter and soil, but a study published by a Stanford researcher in 2021 has raised questions as to whether this approach effectively contains the risk. Through lab experiments with asbestos fibers, she determined that the organic material in soil may enable the asbestos to move through the ground and reach nearby water supplies.[5]
Who Pays for Asbestos Superfund Site Cleanup?
Though the term Superfund has come to be understood as any site that the government is taking action to clean up, it refers to a financial resource. The Superfund can be used by the EPA for any removal that requires emergency action, as well as for remediation action for sites that qualify for the NPL. Sites that represent the greatest risk are placed higher on the priority list for federal funding, and in many instances, states must pay half the costs of remedial actions, though not for removal.
A significant amount of effort is put into identifying responsible parties and making them pay the costs of cleanup and remediation. This may include current or past owners, arrangers (those who arranged for disposal), and transporters (those who transported asbestos to a disposal site.) Any of these parties can be held strictly liable for costs of cleanup and for damages to the property as well as any contamination that spreads to neighboring property. Companies can be required to reimburse the EPA for cleanup or pay upfront costs. Where multiple entities are identified, liability and cleanup responsibilities can be allocated.
Asbestos-Contaminated Superfund Sites
Though some asbestos-contaminated Superfund sites are a result of naturally occurring asbestos, the majority are the result of improper disposal and management of asbestos-contaminated materials. Many of these represent a significant enough risk to be on the NPL list. These include:[6]
- Torch Lake Superfund Site, Houghton County, Michigan
- Ambler Asbestos Piles, Ambler, Pennsylvania
- BoRit Asbestos, Ambler, Pennsylvania
- Carter Carburetor Superfund Site, St. Louis, Missouri
- North Ridge Estates Superfund Site, Klamath Falls, Oregon
- Johns Manville Corporation, Waukegan, Illinois
- Powhatan Mining Company (POWMINCO) Site, Powhatan, Maryland
- Libby Asbestos Site, Libby, Montana
The University of Pennsylvania Superfund Research and Training Program (Penn SRP) Center fosters problem-based, solution-oriented research related to asbestos exposure, remediation, and adverse health effects. The center’s research bridges the gap between two Superfund Research Program agencies, the EPA and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and engages local communities impacted by asbestos-contaminated Superfund sites. The center’s main focus is on the BoRit Asbestos site, which is located nearby, but they are also studying several other asbestos-contaminated Superfund sites.[7]
BoRit Asbestos
From the early 1900s to the late 1960s, the BoRit Asbestos Site in Ambler, Pennsylvania was used to dispose of asbestos-containing materials from a nearby asbestos products manufacturing plant. The site includes an asbestos waste pile, a reservoir, and a closed park. The waste pile was 25 feet high and covered two-and-a-half acres on a six-acre tract owned by Kane-Core, Inc. The reservoir was constructed of asbestos shingles, and the 11-acre park was previously an asbestos disposal area filled with asbestos waste, then converted into a park and playground. It was closed in the mid-1980s due to the asbestos contamination.[8]
BoRit was added to the EPA’s National Priorities List in 2009 because the local community was at risk of exposure to airborne asbestos and asbestos contamination from nearby creeks. Cleanup, including capping all asbestos-containing materials throughout the site and stream bank stabilization, is ongoing.
The asbestos contamination at the BoRit Asbestos Superfund Site can be traced back to a company called Keasbey & Mattison, which moved its small pharmaceutical company from Philadelphia to Ambler in 1882. The owners later discovered that mixing magnesium carbonate and asbestos created an insulating fabric that cut fuel costs when wrapped around steam pipes, and within five years changed their focus to manufacturing asbestos-related products. In 1930 they began dumping asbestos-containing waste onto the Ambler pile site. The company was sold in 1934 to a British asbestos manufacturer and then sold again in 1962 to Certainteed Corporation and Nicolet Industries. In 1978 Nicolet Industries began to face asbestos-related personal injury claims, and by 1987 the company both stopped manufacturing asbestos products and filed for bankruptcy in the face of over 50,000 personal injury claims.[9]
Blackburn and Union Privileges Site
Located in a residential area in Walpole, Massachusetts, the Blackburn and Union Privileges Asbestos Superfund Site is where the Standard Woven Fabric Company began manufacturing asbestos brake linings in 1915, using a process that involved crushing raw asbestos. The company changed its name to Multibestos and in 1937 the plant closed and its properties were sold to Kendall Company, which used the site for cotton and fabric production.[10] Multibestos’ asbestos business was acquired by W.R. Grace.
The primary concern at this site is groundwater contamination. Removal of asbestos material began in 1988 and 1992, with another removal project beginning in 2009. Remediation is continuing.[11]
In 2010, a $13 million settlement was reached between the Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the companies responsible for the contamination of the site. As a predecessor to Standard Woven Fabric Company/Mutibestos, W.R. Grace was among the parties that agreed to provide compensation for the cleanup process.[12]
Johns Manville Corporation
Johns Manville Corp., a frequent defendant in mesothelioma lawsuits, operated what was once the world’s largest asbestos manufacturing plant in Waukegan, Illinois, producing insulation, roofing materials, and other products from the 1920s to the 1980s. In 1982, the 350-acre site was one of the first to be named a Superfund Site. The EPA began asbestos removal from inside the factory’s buildings and worked to clean up a 150-acre asbestos waste disposal area where an estimated 3 million cubic yards of asbestos had been dumped. Other sites in the area were identified as having been contaminated, and all of the buildings at the site were demolished. Though the EPA initially indicated that the area could be redeveloped, In 2015 the agency indicated that the area still contained significant quantities of the carcinogenic material and would not be cleared for public use, even after the land was capped and covered with clean soil.[13] As of 2021, Johns Manville had contributed nearly $6 million to the cleanup effort.
Libby Asbestos Site
Libby, Montana is notorious for its Zonolite vermiculite mine, which began operations in 1919 and became the primary source of vermiculite ore in the world. Vermiculite from the mine accounted for approximately 80 percent of the world’s supply of vermiculite, which was used in building insulation and as a soil conditioner. The vermiculite from the mine was contaminated with a highly toxic form of asbestos called tremolite-actinolite series asbestos, which is frequently referred to as Libby Amphibole asbestos. In 1963, the mining operations were purchased by W.R. Grace, and the mine was closed in 1990, but the damage had been done. In addition to the thousands of people who were diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases as a result of the mining operations and the asbestos-contaminated products, the entire town and surrounding area were found to be significantly contaminated.[14]
The town of Libby was placed on the EPA’s Superfund National Priority List in 2002 following concerns from local citizens, local government, and the media. In 2009, the EPA declared a Public Health Emergency in Libby to provide federal health care assistance for victims of asbestos-related disease. This was the first time in the history of the Superfund that the EPA took this action.
Over two decades of cleanup, the EPA has made significant progress in reducing the amount of asbestos contamination in Libby and has reported that the asbestos content in the air in downtown Libby is nearly 100,000 times lower than it was during mining operations. Site cleanup of eight separate areas is continuing, with some having been partially deleted from the National Priority List.
In March of 2023, W.R. Grace agreed to pay $18.5 million to help rehabilitate or replace damaged areas over the next 10 years. This payment will address the company’s liabilities to Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), but still leaves its liabilities to the EPA and other agencies unresolved. The company previously paid $250 million to the EPA as part of the Libby cleanup efforts, but the EPA has spent more than $600 million on the project to date.
Asbestos Exposure from Superfund Sites
Superfund sites can be the source of both occupational exposure to asbestos and environmental exposure. Workers were placed at risk following exposure on the job and carried asbestos home on their hair, skin, and clothes, leading to secondary asbestos exposure. Additionally, residents of communities in the vicinity of asbestos manufacturing facilities and disposal sites were at risk from environmental exposure. Because of mesothelioma’s characteristic long latency period, many victims of proximity to those contaminated sites are only now beginning to manifest symptoms.
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease and you believe that an asbestos Superfund Site is to blame, you need to speak with a mesothelioma lawyer, who will advise you of your rights and options.
