On Monday, June 2, a federal bankruptcy judge approved an agreement for W.R. Grace to reimburse the federal government $250 million for the investigation and cleanup of asbestos contamination in Libby, Mont.

According to a Washington Post article, the order was signed by Judge Judith Fitzgerald during a hearing in Pittsburgh and gives Grace 30 days to pay the money.

The company, based in Columbia, Md., agreed to the settlement in March. According to the article, the funds will be used to settle a bankruptcy claim brought by the government to recover money for the past and future cleanup of contaminated schools, homes and businesses in Libby, dubbed the site of the worst industrial contamination ever to occur in the U.S.

“The settlement would be the largest-ever reimbursement through the government’s Superfund program,” the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department have said.

Justice Department attorney James Freeman called the payment a “substantial compromise” for the government, but said that prompt payment by Grace would allow the all important clean up to continue without interruption. So far, taxpayers have been footing the bill for the cleanup, which has already cost approximately $168 million. It will take an estimated three to five years more to complete the cleanup, the EPA estimates.

W.R. Grace’s vermiculite mine in Libby, a town in northwestern Montana, operated from 1963 until 1990, when it closed. The asbestos-contaminated vermiculite mined in Libby has been blamed for the hundreds of deaths amongst workers and community members, many of whom developed mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer for which the only known cause is asbestos exposure.

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