Premises Description

Wisconsin Electric Power Company (founded 1896; today doing business as We Energies; a principal subsidiary of WEC Energy Group, headquartered Milwaukee WI) is the largest investor-owned electric utility in Wisconsin, serving southeastern and eastern Wisconsin including Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, and Green Bay.

Through the asbestos era, Wisconsin Electric operated a large network of coal-fired and gas-fired generating stations across Wisconsin and one across the state line in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, including:

  • Oak Creek Power Plant (Oak Creek WI) — very large coal-fired complex on Lake Michigan south of Milwaukee (original units built 1953-1967; later Elm Road expansion)
  • Pleasant Prairie Power Plant (Pleasant Prairie WI) — coal-fired (retired 2018)
  • Port Washington Generating Station (Port Washington WI) — historic coal-fired (converted to natural-gas-fired combined cycle in the 2000s)
  • Valley Power Plant (Milwaukee WI) — coal- and gas-fired downtown Milwaukee plant
  • Lakeside Power Plant (St. Francis WI) — historic coal-fired (retired 1983)
  • Presque Isle Power Plant (Marquette MI, U.P.) — coal-fired (retired 2019)
  • Point Beach Nuclear Plant (Two Rivers WI) — twin-unit PWR (constructed 1970-1972; later sold to NextEra)
  • Columbia Energy Center (Portage WI) — coal-fired (jointly owned with Alliant)

Each generating station operated continuously through the asbestos era with extensive asbestos-containing utility boiler infrastructure — pulverized-coal-fired boilers with block insulation, turbine-generator sets with turbine casing insulation, extensive high-pressure steam piping with block-and-pipe covering, condensers, feedwater heaters, valve and pump packing, and asbestos-insulated switchgear and transformer installations.

Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Wisconsin Electric Power Company / We Energies — as premises owner — exposed its plant-operator and maintenance workforce and dispatched insulator, pipefitter, boilermaker, and electrician trade workers to extensive asbestos across its Wisconsin generating stations.

Wisconsin Electric Power Company / We Energies has been named as a Premises Defendant in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation.

Workers Exposed

  • Wisconsin Electric / We Energies plant operators and maintenance workforce
  • Insulators (HFIAW Local 19 Milwaukee members) dispatched to Oak Creek, Pleasant Prairie, Port Washington, and Valley plants
  • Pipefitters (UA Local 601 Milwaukee members) on Wisconsin Electric construction and turnaround work
  • Boilermakers (IBB Local 107 Milwaukee members) on utility boiler installation and repair at Oak Creek and other stations
  • Electricians (IBEW Local 494 Milwaukee members) on generating-station and substation electrical work
  • Millwrights and ironworkers on capital construction projects
  • Contractor trade workforces on Wisconsin Electric EPC projects

If You Worked at a Wisconsin Electric / We Energies Power Plant

If you worked at Oak Creek, Pleasant Prairie, Port Washington, Valley, Presque Isle, Point Beach, or another Wisconsin Electric / We Energies generating station during the asbestos era — as a utility employee or as a dispatched contractor trade worker — and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, or another asbestos-related illness, you may have legal rights.

Free, confidential case evaluation: Speak with O’Brien Law Firm — (314) 936-2956