UM Grace Case

Defense attorney Walter Lancaster continued questioning of former W.R. Grace employee Randy Geiger.  Mr. Geiger was in charge of pollution control and conducted air quality sampling at Libby from 1976 to the mid 1980s.  Mr. Lancaster’s questioning focused on how air samples were taken and the results of those tests.  A number of pollution control reports, which were conducted monthly by Grace, were admitted without objection.  These reports contained summary tables, which Mr. Lancaster used in an attempt to show that fiber levels were low in Libby and mostly within OSHA standards.  The reports were all addressed to defendant William McCaig.  Mr. Geiger testified that he took Mr. Wheeler, a NIOSH employee, on a tour of the Libby mine site and that side-by-side samples were taken.  A letter from Mr. Wheeler thanking Mr. Geiger for taking samples was introduced without objection (Defense Exhibit 18845).

Mr. Lancaster introduced a letter through Mr. Geiger entitled Job Priority Maintenance, which stated “Bill McCaig has reaffirmed his position that any work which related to minimizing dust exposure to our employees should be given top priority…”  Mr. Lancaster’s questioning elicited that Mr. Geiger had always cooperated with the Government and had never been told to do otherwise.  He also elicited that Mr. Geiger used Grace asbestos products in his garden to aerate the soil and that he never felt such products posed an imminent danger.

Ms. Kubota took over questioning for the defense and focused on engineering improvements made by Grace.  Ms. Kubota used a diagram of the Grace mine and mill site for demonstrative purposes (Defense Exhibit 14083).  As an attorney for defendant Jack Wolter, she attempted to elicit testimony from Mr. Geiger to show Wolter’s involvement in improvements at the mine site.  These engineering improvements ranged from a wet mill modification system, which Mr. Geiger characterized as a filter system that used water to reduce dust levels, to temporary ventilation systems installed in rail cars while workers loaded Grace products into them.  Ms. Kubota introduced a number of exhibits, without objection, in an attempt to show that the modifications were costly and that they were approved by Mr. Wolter.  Ms. Kubota elicited from Mr. Geiger that he believed the improvements were effective in reducing dust levels.  A report entitled Pollution Control, Libby Personnel Sampling Data (Defense Exhibit 14095) stated that there were no violations of the 2.0 f/cc standard during 1979 on mine equipment and that rail car loading operation fibers fell from 3.0 f/cc to 1.0 f/cc.

Ms. Kubota’s direct examination was temporarily stopped by Judge Molloy for a 15 minute recess.

-Robert Lishman