Tester Announces $2.5 million for Asbestos Screening in Lincoln County

Senator Secures Grant for CARD Clinic

(Big Sandy, Mont.)-U.S. Senator Jon Tester today announced that the Center for Asbestos Related Disease (CARD) will receive a $2.5 million grant to screen residents of Lincoln County.

“The CARD Clinic is doing incredible work saving lives,” said Tester. “This grant will provide much needed funding to screen, monitor, and diagnose asbestos related diseases.”

This grant will provide funding for CARD’s ongoing operational costs.

Hundreds of residents of Libby have died and thousands more have been diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases since W.R. Grace closed its local vermiculite mine in 1990. After widespread contamination was uncovered in 2000, Libby and its surrounding communities were placed on the EPA’s Superfund National Priorities List in 2002.

Tester has been a vocal advocate for Libby, commissioning long-term health assessments and progress reports on this issue and pushing the EPA to intensify its cleanup efforts around Libby, Troy and other Montana Superfund sites.

Tester also introduced a bill to ban asbestos in the U.S and he recently passed a resolution to raise awareness about asbestos diseases.

He also secured $200,000 for the Lincoln County Health Alliance to improve mental health care.