The Grace seven: Who are they?

The federal government's 10-count indictment against W.R. Grace and Co. accuses seven senior employees of conspiring to cover up the health dangers of the toxic asbestos found in the vermiculite mined by Grace at Libby.

Only two of the seven - Alan Stringer and William McCaig - worked at the Libby mine. The rest held top corporate positions.

While all seven are charged with conspiracy, it is former mine manager Alan Stringer whose name appears most frequently in the 49-page indictment. He faces up to 70 years in prison.

In addition to the conspiracy charge, Stringer faces three counts of obstruction of justice for allegedly impeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's investigation in 1999 and 2000. After news broke in mid-November 1999 about the extent of asbestos contamination in Libby, the EPA set up an office there and sent in investigators.

At the same time Grace, which had shut down the mine in 1990, re-established an office in Libby and sent Stringer to run it.

The indictments accuse Stringer of providing false and misleading information in Grace's February 2000 response to an EPA request for information.

Stringer, on behalf of Grace, indicated the company didn't provide vermiculite to the general public and that employees didn't regularly leave the mine with tremolite asbestos dust on their clothing.

Grace and Stringer also told the EPA that the company had provided coarse vermiculite-mill tailings for use on the Libby High School running track, but didn't mention that tailings also had been supplied for the junior-high track and an elementary school ice-skating rink.

The indictment further noted that Grace said it took action to treat the road to the mine to minimize dust, when in fact the company used vermiculite tailings to construct and sand the road.

Stringer also was cited for obstruction of justice for allegedly denying an EPA Superfund emergency response team access to the mine site in 2000.

He and two other Grace executives are charged with two counts of wire fraud related to the sale of the mine site and screening plant.

The indictment alleges Grace officials devised a scheme to defraud Mel and Lerah Parker by selling them the screening plant property without disclosing the health hazards of asbestos contamination at the site. The same charge was made in connection with Grace's sale of the mine site and surrounding property to KDC Inc.

Other charges involving Stringer include two counts of violating the federal Clean Air Act by knowingly endangering Grace employees and Libby area residents.

Stringer's name also surfaces in details about the export-plant property where baseball fields were built.

Court documents allege Stringer knew the property was contaminated, but in March 1993 told the city of Libby that Grace intended to donate the property to the city. He also was involved in leasing a portion of the export plant property to Millwork West without divulging the asbestos danger.

Stringer had a 13-year association with the Libby mine, starting as mine supervisor in 1981. He became general manager of the mine in 1988 and continued in that capacity until 1994. He was working for Grace in Santa Ana, Calif., when Grace sent him back to Libby to be the corporate front man as the federal government began its investigation.

Stringer will make an initial appearance in federal court in Missoula on Feb. 22.

William McCaig's history with Grace began in 1971 when he worked as a maintenance engineer at the Libby mine. From 1976 to 1979 he was maintenance superintendent. McCaig was promoted to general manager of the mine in 1979 and served in that capacity until 1988. After that he was manufacturing manager of specialty vermiculite of Grace's Construction Products Division business unit in Enoree, S.C.

The indictment details how McCaig wrote a memo to Grace executive Jack Wolter (another of the seven defendants) informing him a Libby doctor had seen an "asbestos-related pattern" in chest X-rays of the general Libby public and that another doctor had observed cases of asbestos-related disease the doctor suspected might have come from exposure carried home by employees.

McCaig's memo mentioned discussions with Grace about mandating uniform and shower policies to eliminate take-home dust, but McCaig concluded by saying that such a policy "is unwarranted since adverse effects cannot be definitively proven and would only cause unwarranted fear or concern among employees and the Libby community."

It was McCaig who authorized the mill tailings for the ice rink at Plummer Elementary School in 1981. The same year, McCaig told a Grace employee to collect and analyze air samples at the high school track. Results showed "surprisingly high" asbestos fiber concentrations and Grace decided to resurface both the junior- and senior-high tracks. The company did not, however, remove the vermiculite materials at the tracks.

Top Grace executives named in the indictments were involved in various capacities with Libby mine activities from the 1970s on.

Henry "Harry" Eschenbach was an industrial hygienist in Grace's Industrial Chemicals Group from 1971 through 1977. He was director of health, safety and toxicology for the Industrial Chemicals Group from 1977 through 1996.

Jack Wolter held various positions with Grace, including a stint from September 1975 to 1988 as vice president of mining and engineering for the Construction Products Division. From 1988 to about 1994, he was vice president and general manager of that division.

Mario Favorito was the corporate lawyer for Grace's Industrial Chemicals Group from 1970 to 1993 and served as chief group counsel and assistant secretary of Grace from about 1993 to the present.

Robert Bettacchi's association with Grace began in 1979 when he was general manager of the Construction Products Division, a job he held until 1986, when he became vice president of that division. From 1989 to today, he was president of the division and a Grace senior vice president.

Robert Walsh, like the others indicted, held various positions with Grace. From 1982 to 1989 he was president of Grace's Construction Products Division. After that he became executive vice president of Grace Specialty Chemicals Co. He became a senior vice president at some point after 1989 and served in that capacity until the mid-1990s.

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