Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas
Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation (AECC) is based in Little Rock, proving electrical power to approximately 490,000 homes and businesses across the state. With assets of over $1 billion and yearly sales of just under $670 million, the AECC is one of the most successful such cooperatives in the country.
Facilities and Sources
AECC power generation facilities include:
- three hydroelectric plants
- three gas/oil-fired plants
- two gas-only fired plants
In addition, AECC maintains ownership interest in three coal-fired plants. When market conditions warrant, AECC also purchases electricity on the open market.
History
The AECC was established in 1949 because electric co-ops in the state were dependent on private investor-owned utilities for their power. The problem was that although these cooperatives had their own distribution networks, they had no actual generation facilities of their own – and state law prohibited them from building any.
The next twelve years consisted of a series of protracted battles both in the Arkansas Legislature and the courts. AECC was finally granted the right to start building generative facilities of their own, starting with the 59-megawatt Thomas B. Fitzhugh Generating Station near Ozark in 1961. Over the next four decades, the AECC built several more facilities, both on its own and through partnerships with other utility companies. The cooperative's most recent project was a modernization and upgrade of its original facility, during which the obsolete boiler was replaced with a new gas-fired turbine, increasing Fitzhugh's generative capacity to over 170 megawatts.
Asbestos
Older power plants constructed prior to 1980 had large amounts of asbestos-containing materials that could be found in and around:
- electrical cloth
- fire doors
- pipe and conduit lagging
- work surfaces
- turbines
It is hardly surprising that industrial safety experts consider power generation facilities to be some of the most dangerous jobsites when it concerns asbestos exposure. This incidentally 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 mesothelioma as the result of this type of exposure.
Current and former employees of AECC should discuss the possibilities of exposure with their family physicians and get frequent checkups if possible. Although mesothelioma prognosis is often grim, the disease 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.
In the first two-thirds of the 20th century, it was usual for industrial sites of all types to be constructed with the mineral asbestos because of its resistance to heat, flame and electrical current. It is ironic that protecting lives was typically one of the primary reasons for using asbestos in worksites because the outcome was actually to place employees at risk of serious illness or death due to contact with asbestos. The reason for this is that particles of asbestos, when inhaled or ingested, damage internal organs, leading to life-threatening illnesses including pleural plaques and cancer of the lungs. In addition, mesothelioma, a rare but deadly cancer affecting the lining surrounding the lungs, has been proven to be caused by mild to moderate inhalation of asbestos particles.
Now, regulators are aware of the risks of asbestos exposure, and laws ensure the well-being of employees who work with or near this dangerous substance. Even up to the late 1900s, though, laborers frequently were told to operate in spaces in which air filled with asbestos particles was not filtered; in most cases, safety procedures were unknown. In addition, workers brought dust containing asbestos home with them in their work garments when showers were not provided at the workplace; as a result, the potentially deadly mineral also put at risk anyone living with those who worked with asbestos.
As health conditions like lung cancer and mesothelioma disease don't appear until many years after a person first is exposed to asbestos, men and women who worked at contaminated sites, as well as their partners and children, are advised to talk about their history of exposure to asbestos with their medical care providers regardless of how long ago they worked there.
Sources
Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas Website. “Who We Are: Delivering Power The Cooperative Way.”
http://www.aecc.com/about_us.shtml
