Rawhide

Construction on the Rawhide Energy Station began in 1980; the plant came online at the end of March 1984. Owned and operated by Platte River Power Authority, the facility's coal-fired generator has a capacity of 270 megawatts that provides power for a quarter-million homes and businesses in the communities of Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont and Loveland

Although their facilities are fired by the dirtiest energy source on earth, companies that operate coal-fired plants in Colorado have done an admirable job in minimizing their environmental impact. Emissions are not zero, but through the use of new technologies, plants such as Rawhide have been able to reduce the emissions of pollutants considerably. Among 25 coal-fired plants in the state, Rawhide has been ranked lowest in terms of sulfur dioxide emissions, and the fifth-lowest nationwide.

Because Rawhide is a fairly new facility, it is not known if asbestos exposure has been a major issue for employees working at the plant. Use of asbestos-containing materials were gradually phased out starting in 1980, largely due to the revelation in a court case three years earlier that demonstrated a corporate conspiracy among Raysbestos, W.R. Grace and Johns-Manville – all major manufacturers of asbestos products – to hide information about the health effects of their products from the general public.

Prior to that time however, power generation facilities normally contained large amounts of asbestos insulation. Asbestos is resistant not only to heat and flame, but electrical current as well. Generators, boilers and turbine combustion engines and thermal control devices were all insulated with asbestos-containing materials as well as pipe and conduit lagging, electrical cloth and junction boxes.

Asbestos illness has been established as a work-related hazard for those employed at power generation facilities. In a Puerto Rican study published in 2007, over 130 out of 1100 chest x-rays from such workers showed signs of asbestos disease.

Today, both the EPA and OSHA have issued strict regulations that govern worker safety as well as asbestos issues in general. However, an asbestos disease usually has a very long latency period; symptoms usually take decades to develop, and by the time they are diagnosed, it is usually too late. Early treatment is crucial for the best possible mesothelioma prognosis.

The good news is that recent tools have been developed that allow pathologists to detect early signs of asbestos disease; it is therefore important to receive regular checkups if possible if you believe you were exposed to asbestos at a power plant.

This site was one of a multitude of factories, mills, power plants and worksites that, throughout much of the last century, used asbestos for its ability to insulate against electrical current. Although the use of asbestos was intended in many cases to reduce the risk of injury, it unfortunately ended up with the opposite effect. Exposure to asbestos while at work has resulted in serious illness for far too many employees. The health conditions linked to asbestos include asbestosis and cancer of the lungs; the greatest chance of contracting these conditions happens when asbestos-containing materials become fragile, releasing strands into the environment where they are available to inhale. In addition, workplace exposure to asbestos is the primary cause of the deadly form of cancer known as mesothelioma, which affects the mesothelium, the tissue that lines the chest cavity (pleural mesothelioma) or the stomach (peritoneal mesothelioma).

Now, we understand the dangers associated with inhaling asbestos, and health and safety statutes protect those whose jobs put them in contact with this dangerous substance. Even up to the last part of the 20th century, however, workers commonly were forced to toil in spaces in which air filled with asbestos particles was unfiltered; in many cases, the dangers posed by asbestos inhalation were little understood. Family members were also subjected to asbestos exposure when workplaces failed to offer ways for employees to wash off asbestos fibers, as employees carried asbestos home with them on their clothes or in their hair.

Asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma disease often take a very long time to manifest, and the symptoms of these disorders are often difficult to distinguish from those of other conditions, so those who worked at these sites in the past, as well as family members of such workers, are encouraged to chat with their doctors about their history of asbestos exposure.

Sources

Bowker, Michael. Deadly Deception (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.

Todd, Rae. "Rawhide Energy Station - Getting Better and Better." Corporate Press Release (10 June 2004)