An Air That Still Kills: How a Montana Town's Asbestos Tragedy is Spreading Nationwide - Softcover

An Air That Still Kills is the alarming and still-unfolding story of the deadliest environmental disaster in the United States. The catastrophe began in Libby, Montana, where hundreds of people died and thousands more were sickened from the asbestos that contaminated a vermiculite mine. But mine owner W.R. Grace spread the danger across North America when it exported the lethal vermiculite, which still lurks in as many as 50 million homes, businesses and schools. First authored by Andrew Schneider and David McCumber, this updated book includes frightening new disclosures by Schneider about the growing threat from Libby’s uniquely potent form of asbestos. The latest studies by some of the nation’s foremost experts say that Libby asbestos – with even minimal exposure – can sicken and kill at rates thousands of times greater than previously thought. But few people know the danger that hides in their attics and walls, because regulators have repeatedly failed to warn the public effectively. No one is tracking how many people have died from asbestos contamination, or where, or how many more will die. The only certainty is that the toll will continue to rise. An Air That Still Kills is a haunting, meticulously reported account that will introduce you to the courageous miner’s daughter and the cowboy crooner who took on one of the nation’s most powerful corporations, and to the government team who at first refused to believe the duo. That team now continues to risk careers by fighting uncaring bureaucrats to help prove the town’s residents right. The greed, power and politics that claimed so many lives will make you furious. The stories of tireless perseverance against all odds will astonish you. And the ongoing risk of a horrifying death faced by millions should make you mad as hell.

Andrew Schneider lives in Seattle and continues to do in-depth investigative reporting, mostly on topics of national and international public health. He has worked for a variety of news organizations, including The Associated Press, Scripps Howard News Service, The Pittsburgh Press, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He is the winner of numerous prizes, including two Pulitzers, a Society of Professional Journalists public service award, the George Polk Award and the National Headliner Award. David McCumber is editor of the Montana Standard in Butte, Montana. Formerly managing editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Washington bureau chief for Hearst Newspapers, he has worked for several other newspapers, including the San Francisco Examiner and the Santa Barbara News-Press. A 1984 Pulitzer finalist for special local reporting at the Arizona Daily Star, he edited a Pulitzer-winning project there; he is a past winner of the Don Bolles Award for investigative journalism. McCumber’s books include The Cowboy Way: Seasons of a Montana Ranch, Playing off the Rail, and X-Rated: The Mitchell Brothers.