For decades, the residents of Libby, Montana have lived a double life.
On the outside, the town of 3,000 people along the Kootenai River is a picture postcard of why western Montana is one of the most gorgeous places in the country.
Unseen, though, is how asbestos pollution from a former W.R. Grace & Co. mine has sickened more than 1,300 residents with a deadly lung disease, killing many of them and turning Libby into the deadliest Superfund site in the nation's history.
One of the first signs of good news, though, has come with court approval of a $43-million settlement with the state of Montana, which victims' lawyers argued had a duty to warn and protect Libby residents from dangers posed by the perilous asbestos dust.
Montana District Court Judge Jeffrey Sherlock on Friday approved the settlement in the 10-year-old series of about 200 lawsuits against the state. It calls for payments ranging from $500 to more than $50,000, according to the Associated Press and the Daily Inter Lake newspaper, which first reported the settlement.
Attorneys will receive about $14 million of the money. Distribution of the rest is likely to be delayed while authorities determine how much the federal government is first entitled to on behalf of those who received Medicare payments for medical treatment.
Other cases and potential settlements are still pending.
But few in Libby are celebrating the settlement. This is a town where victims of lung cancer and mesothelioma can often be seen pushing oxygen carts through the aisles of the grocery store and where many families have members among the 400 who have died of asbestos-related disease.