$2.5 million goes to asbestos screening

U.S. Senator Steve Daines announced Wednesday the approval of $2,499,999 to continue funding asbestos health screening at the Center for Asbestos Related Disease Clinic in Libby.

The funding covers the third year of a four-year block grant that began in 2015, said Tanis Hernandez, the clinic’s administrative director.

“Every year, we have to do a continuation application,” she explained.

The grant is the clinic’s second consecutive four-year grant made possible by the so-called Libby provisions in the Affordable Care Act, which were championed by former Montana Sen. Max Baucus.

The grants come from a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services program that covers early detection of certain medical conditions related to an environmental health hazard.