AboutMesothelioma.Net

In Libby Montana, even the country club golf course is contaminated. Clean up crews are excavating larges amounts of dirt contaminated with vermiculite from nine holes of the Cabinet View Country Club golf course, according to The Associated Press.

The $1.8 million clean up project is being overseen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which in June declared a public health emergency in Libby. The town is contaminated with asbestos-laden dust that has been blamed for 200 deaths and 1,000 illnesses. The asbestos was contained in vermiculite ore which was mined in Libby for decades.

Asbestos exposure is linked with a variety of serious respiratory illnesses including lung cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs or abdomen.

The excavation and restoration of the golf course is expected to be completed by the spring of 2010.