The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency broke new ground in June when it declared a public health emergency in Libby.

It sounds ominous and urgent, but the bottom line of this first-time-ever declaration from the federal government is money — lots of money — for ongoing health care of victims who were sickened by asbestos exposure from the defunct W.R. Grace & Co. vermiculite mine near Libby.

“No one has written the book on this,” EPA toxicologist David Berry said. “It’s a work in progress. There’s no dollar cap.”

So far, $6 million has materialized from the emergency declaration — $2 million from the Centers for Disease Control for asbestos screening and surveillance activities over two years, and $4 million from the Health Resources Service administration for asbestos-related health-care services.

The declaration allows a certain amount of congressional oversight, Berry said, because there are plenty of rules and procedures attached to how the money can be spent. EPA officials will be required to report to Congress twice a year about health-care monitoring in Libby.

Money generated by the emergency declaration is part of a patchwork quilt of asbestos health-care funding that continues to trickle into Libby.

Another prong of current funding is a $2 million two-year state appropriation. It includes $1 million to continue the Libby Asbestos Medical Plan, which helps with screening costs and covers services not covered by other programs such as the Grace medical plan.

The other $1 million will go to the Asbestos Related Disease Network for case management and home assistance services.

Since there’s no proposal by Grace to extend its medical plan after its bankruptcy is resolved, the timing for a public health emergency declaration was right on target.

A new study by the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety listed Libby as first in the nation for number of asbestosis cases. It ranks third for mesothelioma, a rare asbestos-related tumorous cancer.

The EPA based its determination of a public health emergency on a number of factors:

n Atmospheric and terrain-related conditions.

n Multiple sources of potential exposure and exposure pathways.

n Limited available medical care.

n High rate of occurrence of asbestos-related disease.

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act under which the Superfund program operates doesn’t establish a time frame to revisit the emergency declaration, according to the EPA.

The agency has discretion to change the finding whenever conditions merit, but must consult with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Libby and Troy communities.

IN ADDITION to health-care funding, the declaration means the EPA will invest at least $125 million over the next five years in the ongoing cleanup of Libby and Troy.

This year the EPA removed 102,991 cubic yards of contaminated soil from 157 properties in Libby, including the Cabinet View Country Club golf course where vermiculite was found in the greens, T-boxes and sand traps. Next year’s cleanup agenda includes 80 to 100 properties in Troy.

When U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was on hand to help announce the emergency declaration in June, she noted how federal agencies had long turned a blind eye to the needs of Libby.

Community organizer Gayla Benefield knows that better than anyone.

For many years she and the late Les Skramstad, who died in 2007 from mesothelioma, pushed for health care for victims.

When U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., helped make the presentation for the public health declaration, he presented photos of Skramstad to Sebelius and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson as a reminder of “how much more we need to do.”

 Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com