Former employee helped delay asbestos studies

A key government witness says his former bosses at W.R Grace & Co. conspired to deceive the government, but a defense lawyer Thursday accused Robert Locke of being the chief architect of any deception.

The Missoulian newspaper reported the story on its Web site Thursday night.

Locke is a former vice president of Grace's construction products division. He left the company in 1998 under adversarial circumstances and secreted away "sensitive documents" that detail communications between himself and top Grace officials

Columbia, Md.-based Grace and five one-time company officials are charged with endangering the community of Libby by mining asbestos-laced ore, and doing so in violation of federal law.

U.S. District Court jurors earlier heard Locke describe how he helped supervisors to subvert a federal health study in the early 1980s that would assess the public health hazards of asbestos-laced vermiculite mined near Libby, where more than 200 people have died from exposure to the deadly fibers.

"We wanted to delay the commencement of (the study) for as long as possible," Locke said Thursday. He said the company's primary concern was that the study would hurt corporate profits.

Grace attorney David Bernick said Locke wrote a memo suggesting the company "be slow" and "contribute to delay" to fend off the study.

"You testified a lot about 'we did this, we did that, we, we, we,'" Bernick said. "Well, when it came to these options, 'we' didn't develop these options, you cooked up these options on your own. You cooked up these options by yourself."

Locke said he did so at the behest of his supervisors, and said numerous company officials did not want the study to go forward.

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Information from: Missoulian, http://www.missoulian.com