By Paul Barry. Repeat: The Winners Series. This program is on Australia's greatest environmental disaster at the blue asbestos plant at Wittenoon in Western Australia. In 1988 some 300 who lived and worked in the shadow of that mining operation had succumbed to asbestos related disease. Now it's over 1000 and it is predicted that by 2020 the number will double. Since 1988 some $41 million in damages have been awarded.