With Property Seized and Federal Funding Uncertain, Montana Asbestos Clinic Fights for Its Life

With Property Seized and Federal Funding Uncertain, Montana Asbestos Clinic Fights for Its Life

LIBBY, Mont. — Dozens of feet of tubing connect Gayla Benefield to her oxygen machine so she can walk from room to room inside her home on the picturesque Kootenai River, surrounded by the Cabinet Mountains. Like many people who live in this remote town about 80 miles from the U.S.-Canada border, the 81-year-old Benefield has asbestosis, or scarring of the lungs from asbestos exposure. Her father worked at a now-closed mine that supplied most of…