HAMILTON - Federal environmental officials knew employees and neighbors were in danger of asbestos exposure from the W.R. Grace & Co. Zonolite plant here more than 15 years before they did anything about it, a 1985 report reveals.

The report, titled "Exposure Assessment for Asbestos-Contaminated Vermiculite," specifically mentions the Hamilton plant - though it is listed as Trenton - stating that 55 workers and as many as 92,000 residents in the surrounding community were at risk of asbestos exposure.

The study, conducted by Virginia-based environmental consultant Versar Inc., looked at all of the pathways of possible exposure to asbestos-contaminated vermiculite.

 While the report stresses the numbers are a worst-case scenario, it warns of possible exposure by more than 74 million consumers nationwide as well as an additional 13 million living near the processing, or exfoliating plants, like the one operated in Hamilton.

It also lays out a chain of events in which "individual exposure may come from numerous sources."

"The (worst-case) individual works in an exfoliating plant and lives in the city where the plant is located. He uses vermiculite-based lawn and garden fertilizers and has insulated his attic with loose-fill vermiculite."

Reached yesterday, a spokesman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said the age of the report made it difficult to speculate on the decisions made and the actions taken in 1985.

"What we can speak about are the actions we have taken to address the potential risks from the Hamilton site and others like it around the country," said spokesman Jim Haklar.

"We have removed over 9,000 tons of asbestos-containing material from Hamilton and are continuing our work to clean up the site."

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The study is one of several conducted by EPA consultants that detail the risks from vermiculite mined in Libby, Mont. The ore mined in Libby was discovered to be contaminated with tremolite asbestos that made as many as 1,200 residents of the town sick with asbestos-related ailments.

Based on the results of 1999 testing in Libby, the EPA began testing many of the same processing plants - including the one on Industrial Drive in Hamilton - detailed in its 1985 report.

Testing in Hamilton revealed asbestos levels as high as 40 percent on the grounds, far higher than were reported by a Grace consultant who studied the plant when it closed in 1994. Based on the EPA testing, the agency, citing imminent risk to the community, ordered the removal of 9,000 tons of soil.

The EPA studies - one conducted by an outside consultant hired by the EPA in 1980, the 1985 report and a third sponsored by the EPA in 1991 - all tell of the health risks involved with asbestos-contaminated vermiculite.

The 1980 study deals with the mine in Libby, where the vermiculite originated. That study was unavailable for review, but according to an internal EPA report written in 2001, the study suggests adverse health effects from the asbestos may extend beyond the workers but concluded more information was needed.

The 1985 report tells a story that was never relayed to the workers within the plants or the residents around them.

Within the 100-page report are reams of technical information about asbestos exposure along with tables outlining the number of people possibly exposed, either by living close to a processing plant or using the products made in them.

The report stresses in several places that the numbers represent a worst-case scenario and that not all vermiculite used then was contaminated with asbestos. But asbetos-laden vermiculite was widely used because the Libby mine accounted for about 80 percent of all vermiculite processed in the country in 1985.

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Despite the facts laid out in the 1985 report, the EPA did nothing to notify the country and the millions of users of the contaminated vermiculite of their risks.

In 1991, another report was generated by the EPA titled "Health Assessment Document for Vermiculite."

While the 1991 report concludes there is no evidence to prove vermiculite by itself presents any health risk, it adds that there is sufficient evidence to prove a relationship between asbestos-contaminated vermiculite and lung cancer.

In its 36 pages, the report spells out the possible asbestos exposure risks to millions of residents from contaminated vermiculite ore and builds on the work done in the earlier EPA reports.

"Non-occupational exposure to vermiculite is high," the report's summary states. "In 1979, approximately 13 million persons were estimated to have been exposed to vermiculite near exfoliation plants in the United States. In addition, about 106 million persons were exposed to consumer products containing vermiculite."

The report also clearly discusses the presence of tremolite asbestos in the Libby vermiculite and the risk it poses.

"However, the weight of evidence for asbestos-contaminated vermiculite is sufficient to show a causal relationship for increased lung cancer in miners and millers."

But again, despite strong evidence of the danger the millions of tons of vermiculite dug from Libby represented, it would be eight years before anyone from the EPA addressed the issue.

According to media reports at the time, the existence of the studies was discovered in 2000 by the EPA team investigating the Libby mine.

When the reports were brought to the attention of EPA officials, an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) was ordered by EPA brass to determine why the reports were not acted upon when they were issued.

The investigation, completed in 2001 and presented to then-EPA administrator and former New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman, detailed the failings of the EPA with regard to the reports.

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The OIG's report noted four "Barriers EPA faced in Addressing Asbestos-Contaminated Vermiculite," including poor communication within the agency, fragmented communications within the agency, limitations of science, technology and health effects data and competing priorities for funding.

The OIG's report also stated in strong language that these barriers kept the EPA from acting on the information from Libby and from doing more to address the health issues of the workers and citizens at the mine and in the plants around the country.

"(The) EPA did not issue regulations under the air and toxic substances statutes that could have protected Libby citizens from exposure to asbestos-contaminated vermiculite," the report said. "According to (the) EPA, other issues, such as asbestos in schools and commercial asbestos products, were given higher priority.

"If barriers, such as fragmented authority and jurisdiction coupled with ineffective communications, had not existed, (the) EPA might have done more to address asbestos-contaminated vermiculite in the Libby area and other similar situations."

The report concludes that the barriers "hindered (the) EPA's actions" and still may have existed when the OIG's report was issued in 2001.

Reached yesterday, a senior EPA scientist who asked to be unidentified said the questions about the 1985 report and others should continue to be asked.

"In retrospect, a lot should have been done that wasn't done," he said. "Now, we will continue to do the work that needs to be done and keep facing forward."