EXPOSURE TO LIGHT
Dying from Asbestos
Brian Plonka of The Spokesman-Review
LIBBY, MONTANA
In the past twenty-five years, more
than 160 people have died of asbestos-related illness in tiny
Libby, Montana, poisoned by a blanket of asbestos fibers that
descended from the W.R. Grace vermiculite mine that, until it
closed in 1990, was a mainstay of Libby’s economy. The Spokesman-Review
in Spokane, Washington, reported the story, but a staff photographer,
Brian Plonka, noticed a lack of visual coverage by his paper.
He convinced his editors to let him spend January through March
of 2001 in Libby. “I thought the easiest way to convey the
story was in pictures,” says Plonka. Pictures like this shot,
left, of Cloie Boardner, whose grandmother died of asbestosis,
watching her grandfather pound a cross into the ground before
a memorial service for the victims; or one of a former miner at
W.R. Grace, who is dying from exposure to asbestos, looking at
X-rays of his wife, who may also have been affected by fibers
he brought home on his clothes. The EPA has taken charge of the
clean-up, and, Plonka says, “When they start cleaning the
homes, I’ll be there for that."
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