Dover Gas Plant

The Dover Gas Plant in New Hampshire is one of the oldest facilities in the U.S., built in 1850. It operated as a power generation facility for 110 years before it was retired.

Originally, the purpose of the plant was to produce flammable gas from coal, which was then distributed throughout the city during a time that gas was used for street and household lighting. When the plant was shut down, the building was torn down except for the brick garage. Toxic substances such as coal tar, oil and coke was left on the site and buried, however, along with a veritable “witches' brew” of chemical byproducts that includes benzene, toluene, xylene, cumenes and courmarone. Nearly 8,000 people live within a one-mile radius of the property; groundwater contamination is a serious concern.

Asbestos product manufacturers are the ones that bear liability in asbestos lawsuits. However, it is necessary to go through company records in order to determine which manufacturers were involved.

During its history, the Dover Gas Plant has been under the ownership of:

• Dover Gas Light Company
• United Gas and Electric Company
• Twin State Gas and Electric
• Public Service Company of New Hampshire (PSCNH)
• Gas Services, Inc.
• Allied New Hampshire Gas Company
• Northern Utilities

Asbestos has been a problem associated with all types of industries – particularly those constructed prior to 1980. Prior to that time, asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) were used extensively throughout the construction of power generation plants as well as other industries. The reasons have to do with the hazards typically encountered in such facilities: flame, heat and electricity, and caustic substances. “Blue” crocidolite asbestos is a particularly effective electrical insulator; it is also one of the deadliest varieties of asbestos, known to cause mesothelioma.

ACMs were employed in virtually everything from flame-retardant paint to the very machinery used to generate power. It was particularly hazardous in this context, as the moving parts could eject millions of fibers into the building environment. This was dangerous not only for workers who inhaled such fibers, but their family members as well when fibers that had settled in workers' hair and clothing were brought into the home resulted in secondary exposure.

A research study in Puerto Rico involved the examination of chest x-rays from 1100 power plant workers. Signs of asbestos disease was noted in over 130 of the images. Power plants are regarded by industrial medicine experts as some of the most hazardous industrial worksites for asbestos exposure.

Asbestos was not only a hazard to the worker, but to his family as well; asbestos fibers could be carried home in a worker's hair and clothing, subjecting family members to what is known as “secondary exposure.” There are several documented cases of a family member developing pleural mesothelioma as the result of this type of exposure.

Current and former employees of the Cape Canaveral facility should discuss the possibilities of exposure with their family physicians and get frequent checkups if possible. Although mesothelioma is deadly, it can be treated if caught in the early stages. Fortunately, new technologies have made it possible for pathologists to detect the “markers” indicating the early stages of mesothelioma before symptoms become apparent. However, such cancer can recur, and lifetime screening and health monitoring is usually necessary.

Because of its resistance to heat, flame and electrical current, asbestos was often used in numerous work sites around the country. Although asbestos' strength as an insulator undoubtedly protected people and property in the short term, the unintended results of using it were tragic, and untold numbers of men and women developed serious illness because of contact with asbestos. The reason for this is that particles of asbestos, if inhaled or ingested, damage the lungs, leading to debilitating health conditions including pleural plaques and cancer. In addition, mesothelioma, the fast-growing and mostly untreatable cancer of the lining surrounding the lungs, is known to be caused by even low levels of exposure to asbestos.

Employees who work around asbestos today are generally protected from inhalation due to the many guidelines controlling its utilization, presence at job sites and scrapping. In the past, however, laborers without protective equipment frequently toiled in places thick with asbestos dust. And if workplaces failed to offer showers and decontamination methods, employees inadvertently transported particles of asbestos to their homes in their work garments, which exposed others in their household to this deadly toxin.

Those who were employed at this site in the past, as well as family members of such workers, are advised to learn more about these health conditions and tell their healthcare professionals about their history of asbestos contact, because the symptoms of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related illnesses can be mistaken for those of other, less serious conditions. Workers who have been negligently exposed to asbestos should seek the counsel of a mesothelioma attorney.

Sources

Bowker, Michael. Fatal Deception: The Terrifying True Story of How Asbestos is Killing America. New York: Touchstone, 2003.

Cabrera-Santiago, Manuel et al. "Prevalence of Asbestos-Related Disease Among Electrical Power Generation Workers in Puerto Rico." Presentation at American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, 2007.

Scorecard (2005). Superfund Site Report: Dover Gas Light Co.
http://www.scorecard.org/env-releases/land/site.tcl?epa_id=DED980693550