AHCJ member Andrew Schneider of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is covering the W.R. Grace criminal trial in Missoula, Mont. The federal government alleges that Grace officials mined vermiculite in the small town of Libby, Mont., for decades, even though the company was aware of health risks.
Ten years ago, Schneider and David McCumber exposed that W.R. Grace was polluting the town and hiding the risks that its vermiculite mine posed to the town. “Toxic dust contaminated with lethal asbestos fibers poured out of the mine for decades, poisoning the men who worked there, the families they went home to and the town that grew around in.”
Schneider writes on his personal blog:
“It’s bizarre and a bit prickly to sit in a federal courtroom and watch a story that you broke a decade ago, then chased with about 240 follow-ups and a book, being played out in front of you.
It becomes surreal when the judge talks about the book from the bench and defense lawyers introduce excerpts into evidence and then do dramatic readings to the star witness for the prosecution.”
Schneider is writing about the trial for the Seattle P-I and on his personal blog as well. Although the P-I is expected to close or move to an online-only publication very soon, he says he will continue to cover the trial.
“I plan to keep covering the trial as money permits on schneiderinvestigates.com.”
Related
University of Montana students from the law school and the journalism school also are covering the Grace trial and provide a great deal of background on the Grace Case Web site.
