Ponozzo said the agency does not know for certain where the numbers cited by Ingraham on compliance came from, although she added that the "5-to-10-percent compliance numbers were associated with a circa-2000 document that was not meant to be a definitive study on asbestos compliance."

Ponozzo added that "the relief requested (in the Ingraham petition), a writ of mandamus, is not appropriate for an action where DEQ does not owe the plaintiff a clear legal duty, but is acting within its discretion."

Ingraham’s family has been in the asbestos abatement business since the 1980s. Doug Ingraham says that his father, Bruce, was trained by “people in the industry who were great resources.” Some of those trainers, he says, have since died of asbestos-related disease.

Indeed, asbestos already has taken a huge human and financial toll in Montana, primarily with the tragedy of the asbestos-tainted vermiculite mine in Libby, which has killed hundreds and sickened thousands more.

Ingraham says the loose-fill Zonolite insulation produced from asbestos-tainted vermiculite mined in Libby is in many of the structures that are demolished or remodeled in the state, presenting an enduring danger for construction, demolition, and landfill workers as well as anyone else in the vicinity when asbestos fibers are released into the air.