W.R. Grace owned the vermiculite mine in Libby where more than 200 people have died from mine-related asbestos exposure. The mine is now an EPA Superfund site, and EPA workers are conducting an extensive asbestos cleanup in homes and businesses in Libby.
Bush announced Thursday he had nominated Granta Y. Nakayama to take the helm as assistant administrator for the EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. Nakayama is a partner at the Washington, D.C., office in the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis. There, Nakayama's duties included defending corporations accused of violating national or state environmental laws, including defending companies prosecuted by the EPA, Kirkland & Ellis information shows. Before joining the firm in 1994, Nakayama worked in the U.S. Navy's nuclear submarine service.
Nakayama did not return phone calls seeking comment, but the firm issued a statement saying Nakayama did not work on the W.R. Grace suit.
"Kirkland & Ellis L.L.P. represents W.R. Grace & Co. in litigation related to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case," the statement read. "Mr. Granta Nakayama has had no involvement in this matter during his tenure at Kirkland. The firm thanks him for his service and wishes him success during the Senate confirmation process."
The U.S. Senate must approve the nomination.
Gayla Benefield, a Libby resident and head of the Lincoln County Asbestos Victims Relief Organization, said she was disturbed both that Nakayama's firm represents Grace and also that Nakayama defended corporations accused of breaking the very environmental laws he will now be responsible for enforcing.
"This is arrogance beyond arrogance by the people in charge," she said. "To nominate this person with this background is really a slap in the face."
Benefield said she believed Grace used the bankruptcy courts to avoid doing right by the people sickened in Libby, and Nakayama's firm helped them do it.
"It was an intentional move on (Grace's) part to avoid their moral obligations," she said. "Apparently a moral obligation doesn't hold up in bankruptcy court."
Anne Hedges, program director for the Helena-based environmental group the Montana Environmental Information Center, said the nomination was inappropriate.
"We think it's appalling," she said. "This is typical of the Bush administration where they put the fox in charge of the hen house. Senators from Montana should be calling for the Bush administration to appoint somebody who is more impartial."
EPA Administrator Steve Johnson issued a prepared statement Thursday praising Nakayama and his appointment.
"I am confident that Granta's expertise will strengthen and enhance the agency's ongoing vigilance in enforcing our nation's environmental laws and regulations," Johnson said.
The nomination first goes before the U.S. Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee, of which U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., is a member.
"Max will go over his background with a fine-tooth comb," said Barrett Kaiser, a Baucus spokesman. "If he's a special-interest appointment with ties to W.R. Grace, that's the last thing folks in Libby need."
Barrett said Baucus planned on inviting Nakayama to his office to learn more about the nominee.
James Pendleton, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., said Nakayama might have to answer "some tough questions."
"The senator will be looking forward in hearing what this gentleman has to say," Pendleton said.
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