Premises Description

Central and South West Corporation (CSW), organized as a holding company in 1945 and merged into American Electric Power in 2000, historically owned four investor-owned utility operating companies serving Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana: Central Power & Light (CPL, south Texas / Corpus Christi and Rio Grande Valley), West Texas Utilities (WTU, Abilene / west Texas), Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO, Shreveport / east Texas / south Arkansas), and Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO, Tulsa / eastern Oklahoma). Historic generating stations included Coleto Creek, Nueces Bay, and Barney Davis (CPL); Oklaunion (WTU); Welsh, Pirkey, and Flint Creek (SWEPCO); and Northeastern (PSO), together with participating interests in the South Texas Project nuclear plant (Bay City TX).

Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that pre-1985 CSW-affiliate generating stations contained asbestos-containing thermal insulation on boiler headers, superheater and reheater piping, feedwater lines, and turbine casings; asbestos-containing gaskets and packing in valves, pumps, and condenser waterboxes; asbestos millboard and transite panels in switchgear rooms and transformer vaults at CPL, WTU, SWEPCO, and PSO substations; and asbestos-refractory brick in coal-boiler combustion chambers. Plaintiffs allegedly encountered airborne asbestos during scheduled outages, retubes, refueling outages, gasket replacements, and insulation tear-out and re-lagging.

Workers Exposed

Plaintiffs alleged that station operators, boiler mechanics, pipefitters, insulators, electricians, and millwrights working at CPL, WTU, SWEPCO, and PSO generating stations and substations from approximately 1940 through the mid-1980s were exposed to respirable asbestos fibers when boiler lagging was cut, gaskets were scraped from flange faces, valve packing was repacked, and refractory brick was chipped and replaced.

If You Worked With CSW-Affiliate Utility Facilities and Have Been Diagnosed With Mesothelioma

If you or a family member worked at Coleto Creek, Nueces Bay, Barney Davis, Oklaunion, Welsh, Pirkey, Flint Creek, Northeastern, South Texas Project, or another CPL, WTU, SWEPCO, or PSO plant or substation and later received a mesothelioma or other asbestos-related diagnosis, you may have legal claims against premises owners, insulation contractors, and asbestos-product manufacturers. Free, confidential case evaluation: Speak with O’Brien Law Firm — (314) 936-2956