WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- A northwest Montana town where asbestos contamination has killed more than 200 people will get more than $ 130 million in cleanup and medical assistance from the Obama administration , the Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday . Libby , Montana , will get new help dealing with asbestos contamination . The declaration is the first issued by the agency , which has grappled with the `` toxic legacy '' of a mine outside Libby , Montana , since 1999 , Administrator Lisa Jackson said . The town was heavily contaminated with asbestos-laced dust that federal prosecutors said resulted in more than 200 deaths and 1,000 illnesses . `` For decades , the disease and death rate from asbestosis in the Libby area was staggeringly high -- much higher than the national average , '' Jackson told reporters . Not only did dust from the mine spread all over Libby and the neighboring town of Troy for decades , but tailings from the facility also were used as fill for driveways , gardens and playgrounds , she said . `` Literally no matter where these residents turned , they were being exposed yet again , '' Jackson said . She said the declaration `` should be a reminder of the serious consequences of mismanaging hazardous material . '' EPA spokeswoman Adora Andy said $ 6 million from the Department of Health and Human Services will go to local health care providers to screen , diagnose and treat asbestos-related illnesses , while $ 125 million will go toward cleaning up contaminated areas . The new commitment brings the total amount the EPA has designated for the Libby area to $ 333 million , she said . The agency still needs to conduct `` significant research '' into the health effects of the type of asbestos that has been spread around town since the 1920s , she said , and does not yet know how many properties will need to be cleaned up . During Jackson 's confirmation hearing in January , Montana Sen. Max Baucus said the valley 's 12,000 residents had been `` hung out to dry '' and pressed Jackson to review the issue . Wednesday , Baucus presented Jackson and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius with a photo of one of his constituents , former miner Les Skramstad . `` He died , and others in Libby have died , '' said Baucus , a Democrat . `` But the decision is the beginning of what needed to be done . It 's the first time in American history that we 've had this declaration , and I can not think of a more fitting time and place for it than Libby , Montana . '' Baucus is the former chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and now leads the Finance Committee . He is a key architect of a still-being-drafted health care bill the Obama administration has said it wants to see pass this year . The Libby operation began producing vermiculite -- a mineral often used in insulation -- in 1919 . Dust from the plant covered patches of grass , dusted the tops of cars and drifted through the air in a hazy smoke that became a part of residents ' daily lives . But the product was contaminated with tremolite asbestos , a particularly toxic substance that has been linked to mesothelioma , a cancer that can attack the lining of the lungs , abdomen , or heart . In May , a federal jury acquitted mine operator W.R. Grace and three of its former executives of criminal charges related to the contamination . Grace operated the facility from 1963 until it closed in 1990 , and prosecutors argued that its executives knowingly released the substance and tried to hide the danger from the community . Baucus said that despite the verdict , he still believes the company `` knew it was contaminating the town . '' `` Regrettably , the trial did not conclude the way I thought that it should , '' he said . There was no immediate response from the company to the senator 's remarks . During the three-month trial , Grace did not deny that the asbestos came from its mine , but it said it acted responsibly to clean up the contamination . It also paid millions in medical bills for area residents , and agreed in 2008 to pay $ 250 million to reimburse the EPA for its cleanup efforts .
EPA declares health emergency in Montana , Libby . Asbestos contamination in the town blamed for 200 deaths , officials say . Move will offer more aid to town ; cleanup been going on for 1990 . Mine operator has been acquitted of criminal charges ; has paid 200 for cleanup .