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Burns, Baucus differ on terms of asbestos legislation - billingsgazette.com
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January 19, 2006Last modified January 19, 2006 - 12:10 am
Burns, Baucus differ on terms of asbestos legislation
Burns, Baucus differ on terms of asbestos legislation
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Sen.
Conrad Burns, R-Mont., said Wednesday that he opposes a pending Senate bill designed to compensate residents of Libby who have been sickened by asbestos.
Burns is opposing a provision authored by the state's other senator, Democrat Max Baucus.
The language, which would pay sickened Libby residents up to $1.1 million each for asbestos-related diseases, is included in larger asbestos legislation passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee last year.
The Senate is expected to take up the bill in coming weeks.
About 200 deaths and many more cases of asbestos-related disease have been blamed on asbestos contamination associated with Libby's vermiculite mine, which was operated by W.R.
Grace & Co.
and closed in 1990.
Burns said he opposes the legislation because it does not use a certain test to determine who would be eligible for the compensation.
The test, called the diffusion capacity test, measures the lungs' efficiency to p...
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