W.R. Grace offers $18.5M to settle Montana asbestos claims

HELENA (AP) — The owner of a former vermiculite mine in northwestern Montana that spread harmful asbestos in and around the town of Libby has offered $18.5 million to settle the last of the state’s claims for environmental damages, Gov. Greg Gianforte announced Tuesday.

The proposed settlement was filed in W.R. Grace & Co.’s bankruptcy case in Delaware for the Libby Asbestos Superfund Site in Lincoln County.

Asbestos from a vermiculite mine owned by W.R. Grace beginning in 1963 polluted the area until the mine was shuttered in 1990. Cleanup began in 2000, after media reports spurred federal of...