Sioux City Coal and Gas

As the name suggests, Sioux City Coal and Gas was a company the provided fuel and energy products for customers in the Iowa municipality for which it was named.

The energy industry is known for asbestos issues, particularly when it comes to power generation plants.

Asbestos was cheap insurance against property damage and to a lesser extent, protection against litigation resulting from fire and chemical-related injury and death. In terms of human health however, the price of cheap asbestos has been extremely high. A According to Stephen J Carroll of the RAND Institute, financial costs to U.S. society could exceed $265 billion.

Asbestos Uses

In most industries, asbestos insulation was sprayed onto machinery, pipes and electrical conduits. Asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) were also present in the gasket materials used for pipe fittings, valves and pumps. Paints and flooring as well as wall board and building insulation contained substantial amounts of asbestos as well.

As this insulation ages, it begins to crumble, or become friable.

Solutions

Since the dangers of asbestos has been known (the information finally came out in 1977 after a forty-year corporate cover-up), asbestos in power plants has either been removed or sealed up with resin compounds. In addition, both the EPA and OHSA have issued strong worker-protection rules; approved respirators and even HAZMAT must be available to workers whose duties requires them to carry out tasks in known or suspected asbestos hazard areas.

What To Do

Virtually everyone today has been exposed to some amount of asbestos; it normally requires high concentrations over a lengthy period of time in order for asbestos disease to develop. Other factors that determine asbestos disease risk include tobacco use and family history of cancer.

A solid diagnosis is necessary in order to recover damages successfully, especially if it is mesothelioma. According to all current research, asbestos exposure is the only documented cause of mesothelioma; the defense will argue for a misdiagnosis.

It is also important to gather as much information about the exposure as you can. Legally, the plaintiff's counsel must demonstrate direct cause due to exposure to a specific product.

This site was one of numerous factories, mills, power plants and worksites that, throughout much of the 20th century, used the mineral asbestos because of its ability to withstand electrical current. Although asbestos' strength as an insulator undoubtedly protected people from injury and even death, the eventual results of its use were devastating, and thousands of employees contracted serious illness due to asbestos exposure. The reason is that particles of asbestos, when inhaled or ingested, damage internal organs, leading to life-threatening health conditions including "miner's lung" and lung cancer. The most deadly of the asbestos-related disorders is mesothelioma, a type of cancer that involves the cells lining the pleural cavity; it is very difficult to treat, and patients seldom live more than two years after being diagnosed. Still, mesothelioma chemotherapy is one treatment available for patients from doctors like Dr. David Sugarbaker at Harvard University's Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Today, regulators are much more knowledgeable about the dangers associated with being exposed to asbestos, and responsible employers ensure the well-being of those who work with or near this potentially lethal mineral. In the past, however, laborers without proper safety gear often toiled in places thick with asbestos dust. Furthermore, if job sites didn't offer showers, employees took strands of asbestos to their homes in their work garments, thereby exposing spouses and children to this dangerous substance.

People who were employed at this site at any time in the past, as well as their partners and children, should learn more about these health conditions and inform their healthcare professionals about their history of exposure to asbestos, because the signs of asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma can be mistaken for those of other conditions.

Sources

Bowker, Michael. Fatal Deception. (New York: Touchstone, 2003)

Carroll, Stephen J. Asbestos Litigation Costs and Compensation. (Santa Monica: RAND Institute for Civil Justice, 2002).

EPA. Superfund Site Information. “Sioux City Coal and Gas.”
http://cfpub.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0702161