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Federal environmental regulators and the state of Montana have agreed on a clean-up plan for two of the most prominent asbestos-contaminated properties in the Libby, Montana superfund site.

The plan developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency addresses contamination at the former W.R. Grace export and screening plants. It involves a combination of removing contaminated soil and capping other areas with clean soil to prevent asbestos fibers from becoming airborne. Breathing asbestos fibers is linked to serious respiratory diseases including lung cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs.

“EPA believes that public health and the environment in Libby are best served by moving forward with these remedies in order to effectively break soil exposure pathways and prepare these important properties for reuse,” Carol Campbell, an EPA assistant regional administrator said in a press release.

In June 2009, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced that a public health emergency existed in the town of Libby in northwest, Montana, where asbestos-contaminated vermiculite was mined for decades by the W.R. Grace Corp. Asbestos contamination in the Libby area has been blamed for the deaths of more than 200 people and the illnesses of more than 1,000 to date.

For decades, miners in Libby were exposed to asbestos in their work and brought the toxic dust home on their clothes, unintentionally exposing their families. The mine has been closed since 1990, and access to the Grace property restricted.

Cleanup has been completed at more than 1,100 commerical and residential properties. Meanwhile, investigations of asbestos contamination are continuing in the neighboring town of Troy, which also had a mine site and vermiculite processing areas.