MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) – An Environmental Protection Agency official testified that employees of W.R. Grace & Co. misled the government and obstructed efforts to clean up a mine site in Montana.

Paul Peronard testified Thursday in the federal environmental crimes trial of Grace and five former company officials.

The Missoulian newspaper reported the testimony on its Web site. Peronard was EPA’s on-scene coordinator in Libby, where Grace operated a vermiculite mine. He said Grace officials provided false and misleading statements during the initial phase of cleanup, when EPA was trying to gauge the scope of asbestos contamination in Libby.

Peronard said he helped arrange sale of the mine site back to Grace, so that EPA could use it as a repository for asbestos-contaminated mine waste. He said that, one day after the sale was completed, Grace denied EPA access to the site.