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« Arkansas Activist Fights Fluoridation | Main | Teflon Attorneys Win Trial Lawyer Award »

Mining, Asbestos Giant Files Chapter 11

By EWG

Asarco, a subsidiary of mining conglomerate Grupo Mexico, filed for bankruptcy Wednesday, leaving taxpayers holding the bag on an estimated $1 billion in environmental cleanups in a dozen states that the company has dragged its feet on for more than a decade. The copper mining company has also been implicated in 95,000 personal-injury asbestos lawsuits.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy means that local communities are the big losers -- mines shut down and jobs are lost even as corporate executives restructure the company and continue to make profits. Of the 70-some American companies that have been "ruined" by asbestos lawsuits, even cautionary tale W.R. Grace is still operational.

Read more from the Seattle Times, and take a look at EWG's work on asbestos.

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