Chugach Electric

In some ways, Chugash Electric owes its existence to an attempted Japanese invasion during the Second World War.

Historical Background

Although Japan started out the war with tremendous military might, the nation's resources were severely limited. As Germany attempted to do in Central Asia, Japan made a grab for Alaska's rich oil fields. The attempt was far from successful; Japanese forces failed to advance past the Aleutian islands. Nonetheless, the possibility that Japan might get a foothold on the North American continent was of great concern to the U.S. military; it led to the construction of the Alaska Highway in order to facilitate the movement of men and materiel to Alaska.

The highway opened the way for a population boom after the war. Chugash Electric was established in March of 1948 to serve the burgeoning population of Anchorage, and received federal funding under the Rural Electrification Act.

Today, Chugash Electric is one of the area's largest employers, as well as one of the largest utility cooperatives in Alaska. Like many large corporate entities, Chugash has had its fair share of controversy and has been a named defendant in more than one lawsuit. Some of these have involved mesothelioma disease that had developed among former employees.

Litigation

Before the 1970s, the health hazards of industrial asbestos were kept secret by the large corporations that manufactured and marketed asbestos products. Because fire, heat and electrical current are all dangerous elements at power plants, such facilities made extensive use of asbestos-containing materials (ACMs). Such materials were used in the insulation of internal heating and cooling mechanisms as well as around steam pipes and electrical conduits, fire doors and even electrical cloth. Over the years, asbestos insulation became brittle and would begin to crumble into deadly dust (become friable). Workers who have been negligently exposed should seek legal counsel from a mesothelioma lawyer.

Once Chugash management became aware of the health hazards of asbestos, significant steps were taken to comply with EPA and OSHA guidelines for worker protection. Chugash employees now receive training as well as protective gear that includes full-body suits, goggles and respirators; employees also leave work clothing at the site and shower before leaving the premises in order to prevent family members from receiving secondary exposure.

Asbestos Disease

Although current and new employees are aware of asbestos dangers and enjoy new protections, this wasn't true of those who worked for the company's power facilities during its first forty years of operation. Asbestosis and asbestos cancer have very long latency periods; symptoms usually do not appear until the diseases are in an advanced state, anywhere from ten to sixty years after initial exposure.

If possible, those who were employed by Chugash at any time should discuss asbestos exposure with their primary care physicians and get checked regularly; mesothelioma prognosis is substantially better when caught in the early stages, but incurable and invariably fatal in their later stages.

Given its resistance to heat, flame and electrical current, the mineral asbestos could commonly be found throughout numerous factories, mills, power plants and worksites around the country. While the use of asbestos was intended in many cases to reduce the risk of injury, it sadly often had the opposite effect: asbestos exposure in the workplace has resulted in serious illness for far too many laborers. The disorders linked to asbestos include asbestosis and lung cancer; the biggest chance of developing these conditions occurs when asbestos-containing materials become friable, releasing microfibers into the air where they are easy to inhale. Also, mesothelioma, the rare but deadly cancer of the mesothelium, the tissue that lines the pleural cavity, has been proven to be caused by mild to moderate inhalation of asbestos particles.

People whose jobs put them in contact with asbestos now are usually safe from inhalation because of the extensive body of laws regulating its utilization, inclusion in products and disposal. Even as late as the 1970s, however, laborers without respiratory equipment commonly toiled in places filled with airborne asbestos. Spouses and children were also exposed to asbestos if job sites didn't offer showers, because employees inadvertently transported asbestos particles home in their clothes and hair.

Since health conditions like mesothelioma don't appear until many years after a person first is exposed to asbestos, those who had jobs at contaminated sites, as well as their partners and children, are advised to talk about their history of asbestos contact with their medical care providers regardless of how long ago they worked there.

Sources

Chugach Electric Association (unspecified date). Chugach Electric Facilities Page-Bernice Lake.
http://www.chugachelectric.com/inside/facilities_bernice.html

Chugach Consumers. “Chugach Electric Election Why Vote March 27th?” Headline News. (14 March 2006). from
http://www.freedomwriter.com/issue35/ak2.htm