Aurora Power

Aurora Power is actually a consortium of several energy companies that operate in Alaska's southern region. Founded in 1994, the consortium maintains headquarters in Anchorage as well as Houston, Texas.

Members of the consortium include:

Aurora Power Resources: a retail natural gas marketing company targeting large commercial and industrial clients
Aurora Gas: an independent oil and gas exploration company operating in Cook Inlet
Aurora Well Service: a company that owns, operates and maintains drilling equipment
Shirleyville Camp: a residential facility for oil workers

Cook Inlet is the site of substantial oil and natural gas deposits. Currently, there are 16 off-shore drilling platforms in the waters of Cook Inlet.

Asbestos Risks

Power generation and petroleum are two of the highest-risk occupations for asbestos exposure. Because of its resistance to heat, flame, electrical current and caustic chemicals asbestos was used extensively throughout the entire range of industrial endeavors. Before the 1970s however, there were few industrial guidelines regarding asbestos safety, and it wasn't until the 1980s that the use of asbestos-containing materials was finally phased out.

Unfortunately, because symptoms of asbestos disease do not usually appear until decades after initial exposure, many current and former employees may be at risk for mesothelioma or asbestos lung cancer without being aware of it. Secondary exposure to family members resulted from asbestos fibers carried into the home in the hair and on clothing of employees. Workers who have been negligently exposed should seek legal counsel from a mesothelioma lawyer.

A U.K. study showed that workers employed in occupations that brought them into actual contact with petroleum and the refining process ran a substantially elevated risk of developing mesothelioma and other asbestos cancers.

This site was one of thousands of factories, mills, power plants and worksites that, in much of the last century, used the mineral asbestos because of its ability to resist heat. It is ironic that reducing the risk of injury was almost always one of the main justifications behind utilizing asbestos in worksites because the result was in fact to place laborers at risk of serious illness due to exposure to asbestos. The reason for this is that asbestos fibers, if inhaled, embed themselves into internal organs and cause serious health conditions such as "miner's lung" and lung cancer. In addition, mesothelioma, which is a fast-growing and mostly untreatable cancer affecting the mesothelium, the tissue that lines the pleural cavity, is known to be caused by mild to moderate asbestos exposure.

People who work with asbestos today are generally protected from exposure due to the numerous rules controlling its use, presence at job sites and disposal. Even up to the late 1900s, however, laborers frequently were told to operate in spaces in which air filled with asbestos dust was unfiltered; in most cases, the risks of asbestos exposure were little understood. In addition, workers carried asbestos home on their work clothes when change rooms weren't provided at the company; as a result, this potentially deadly mineral also put at risk wives and husbands of those who worked with asbestos. Those who have been exposed to asbestos should seek medical attention at any of the mesothelioma clinics in their area.

Those who were employed here at any time in their job history, as well as their family members, are advised to learn more about these health conditions and inform their family doctors about their history of exposure to asbestos, because the signs of asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma can be difficult to distinguish from those of other conditions.

Sources

"Aurora Power Resources." Aurora Power. aurorapower.com. 2009.
http://www.aurorapower.com/aurorapower.htm

Sorahan, Tom. “Mortality of UK Oil Refinery and Petroleum Distribution Workers, 1951-2003.” Occupational Medicine 57, no. 3 (2007): 177-85.

"The Cook Inlet Region." International Arctic Research Center. climate.gi.alaska.edu. 2009.
http://climate.gi.alaska.edu/history/Cook.html