Asbestos Exposure at Madison Gas and Electric’s Blount Street Station

⚠️ CRITICAL WISCONSIN FILING DEADLINE WARNING

Wisconsin law gives mesothelioma and asbestos disease victims only THREE YEARS from the date of diagnosis to file a lawsuit — not three years from exposure. Under Wis. Stat. § 893.54, if you miss this deadline, you permanently lose your right to compensation, no matter how strong your case is.

Do not wait. Contact a Wisconsin mesothelioma lawyer today. Every day you delay is a day closer to losing rights you can never recover. Asbestos trust fund claims — which can be pursued simultaneously with a civil lawsuit in Wisconsin — may remain available beyond the civil filing window, but trust fund assets are actively depleting as more victims file. The workers who file first recover the most. Call now.

If You Worked at Blount Street Station and Have Been Diagnosed

If you worked at Madison Gas and Electric’s Blount Street Station in Madison, Wisconsin, and have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, or another serious respiratory disease, your illness may be directly connected to conditions at that facility. For decades, the plant allegedly contained asbestos-containing materials that became airborne when workers performed routine maintenance, repairs, and renovations. Mesothelioma and related diseases take 20 to 50 years to develop — workers who may have been exposed in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s are receiving diagnoses today.

Wisconsin law imposes a three-year statute of limitations under Wis. Stat. § 893.54, running from the date of diagnosis — or the date a patient reasonably should have connected the diagnosis to an occupational exposure — not from the date of the underlying exposure itself. A worker who may have been exposed at Blount Street Station in 1968 and received a mesothelioma diagnosis in 2023 likely has until 2026 to file a civil lawsuit. Waiting even a single month reduces your legal options, narrows your attorney’s ability to gather evidence, and brings you closer to a deadline that cannot be extended.

Contact an asbestos attorney Wisconsin immediately — today if possible — to evaluate your legal rights before that three-year window closes permanently.

Asbestos trust fund claims and civil lawsuits can be pursued simultaneously in Wisconsin, which means you may be entitled to compensation from multiple sources at the same time. Trust fund assets are finite and are being paid out to claimants every day. Workers and families who delay filing Wisconsin asbestos trust fund claims risk receiving smaller recoveries — or finding that a trust has exhausted its assets entirely. There is no advantage to waiting. Call today.

What Was the Blount Street Station?

A Major Twentieth-Century Power Generation Facility

The Madison Gas and Electric (MG&E) Blount Street Station, located on the shores of Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin, was one of south-central Wisconsin’s primary power generating facilities for much of the twentieth century. The plant reportedly operated coal-fired boilers and steam turbines to supply electricity and steam heat to the Madison metropolitan area. MG&E, an investor-owned utility with roots tracing to the 1890s, relied on this facility as a core generation asset.

The Blount Street Station was not an isolated industrial site — it was embedded in a regional industrial economy that included major Milwaukee-area manufacturers such as Allen-Bradley Company, Allis-Chalmers in West Allis, Falk Corporation, and A.O. Smith Corporation. Workers, contractors, and union tradespeople often moved between these facilities and utilities like MG&E throughout their careers, and asbestos-containing products from the same manufacturers were reportedly used across all of them.

Construction Timeline and Asbestos Exposure Risk

The facility reportedly underwent multiple phases of construction, expansion, and equipment upgrades from the 1920s through the early 1980s — the period when asbestos exposure risk was highest. Each phase may have involved asbestos-containing insulation, gaskets, packing, and thermal management products manufactured by Johns-Manville Corporation, Owens-Illinois, Combustion Engineering, and Garlock Sealing Technologies, all considered industry-standard materials at the time.

When coal-fired generation became economically unviable in the Madison market, MG&E scaled back operations. The site reportedly underwent asbestos abatement consistent with EPA National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) requirements. Wisconsin DNR administers the state asbestos NESHAP program and maintains records of demolition and renovation notifications submitted for facilities throughout Dane County.

Why Asbestos-Containing Materials Filled Power Plants

The Physics of Coal-Fired Steam Generation

Coal-fired steam generation runs hot. At Blount Street Station:

Steam boilers reportedly operated at temperatures exceeding 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit
Steam lines carried superheated steam under high pressure throughout the plant
Turbines, feed water heaters, economizers, condensers, and valve systems all generated and transmitted extreme heat
Without effective thermal insulation, systems lost energy at unworkable rates and created dangerously hot working conditions

Why Asbestos Was Industry Standard from the 1890s Through the 1970s

Asbestos offered properties no competing material matched at the time:

Extreme heat and fire resistance
High thermal insulation performance
Low cost and wide availability
Easy application to curved pipe surfaces
Resistance to chemicals and moisture
Durability through repeated thermal cycling

Power plant operators, engineering firms, and insulation contractors across Wisconsin — including those reportedly working at Blount Street Station — specified, purchased, and installed asbestos-containing materials on virtually every thermally significant system in the plant. The same manufacturers whose products were allegedly present at Milwaukee industrial giants like Allis-Chalmers and Falk Corporation supplied the power generation industry throughout south-central Wisconsin.

What Asbestos-Containing Materials Were Allegedly Present?

Pipe Covering and Block Insulation

High-temperature pipe insulation was among the most voluminous asbestos-containing materials allegedly present at the facility:

Kaylo block insulation and Thermobestos pipe covering manufactured by Johns-Manville Corporation
Aircell and similar products manufactured by Owens-Illinois
Reportedly used on steam supply lines, condensate return lines, and auxiliary piping throughout the plant
Earlier formulations contained up to 15–20% chrysotile asbestos by weight
Workers who cut, shaped, or removed this insulation may have been exposed to elevated concentrations of airborne asbestos fibers

These same Johns-Manville and Owens-Illinois products are documented in litigation arising from other major Wisconsin industrial facilities, including Allen-Bradley and Allis-Chalmers, confirming that these manufacturers actively supplied the Wisconsin market throughout the mid-twentieth century.

Boiler Insulation and Refractory Products

Coal-fired boilers required extensive insulation and heat-resistant internal lining:

Combustion Engineering reportedly supplied boilers and related equipment to MG&E and other regional Wisconsin utilities
Insulation systems may have incorporated asbestos-containing block insulation, insulating cement, and asbestos cloth
Monokote and similar spray-applied fireproofing products containing asbestos may have been applied to structural components within boiler enclosures
Boiler rooms are alleged to have been among the most heavily contaminated areas during maintenance outages
Opening boiler casing, removing old insulation, and applying new materials may have generated peak fiber concentrations for insulators and boilermakers

Boilermakers who may have worked at Blount Street Station — including members of Boilermakers Local 107, which represented workers at power generation and industrial facilities throughout Milwaukee and south-central Wisconsin — may also have encountered similar asbestos-containing conditions at other utility and industrial sites across the region over the course of their careers.

Turbine Insulation

Steam turbines required specialized asbestos-containing materials:

Blanket insulation, block insulation, and insulating cement on turbine casing and steam piping, allegedly manufactured by Johns-Manville, Owens-Illinois, and Eagle-Picher
Turbine inspections, overhauls, and repairs may have required removal and replacement of that insulation
Removal work may have released substantial concentrations of airborne asbestos fibers

Feed Water Heater Insulation

Feed water heaters preheated boiler feed water using extracted steam:

Heavily insulated with asbestos-containing materials allegedly manufactured by Johns-Manville and Owens-Illinois
Required periodic inspection and tube replacement by plant maintenance personnel
Workers servicing these vessels may have encountered asbestos-containing insulation in varying states of deterioration

Gaskets, Packing, and Sealing Materials

Throughout the plant’s piping, valve, and pump systems:

Asbestos-containing compressed sheet gaskets and braided rope packing may have been used to create pressure-tight seals
Manufacturers allegedly included Garlock Sealing Technologies, Flexitallic, and similar suppliers
Mechanics and pipefitters who replaced these materials — scraping old gaskets, pulling old packing — may have been exposed to airborne asbestos fibers
Crane Co. equipment specifications may have called for asbestos-containing seal materials in valves and other components

Pipefitters and steamfitters who may have worked with these materials at Blount Street Station frequently also performed work at other Wisconsin industrial sites. Members of Pipefitters Local 601, which represented workers in the Madison area and south-central Wisconsin, reportedly performed installation and maintenance work at MG&E facilities as well as at industrial plants throughout the region where the same asbestos-containing materials from Garlock, Flexitallic, and Crane Co. were allegedly in use.

Asbestos Cloth, Tape, and Lagging

Asbestos woven cloth and fiber tape may have been used as lagging material over insulated pipe
Applied over Kaylo and similar block insulation as the finished outer surface
Used for wrapping expansion joints and flexible connections
Allegedly manufactured by Johns-Manville, Owens-Illinois, and other suppliers throughout the mid-twentieth century

Floor Tile and Structural Fireproofing

Vinyl asbestos floor tile — potentially including products marketed under trade names like Unibestos or manufactured by Armstrong World Industries and Celotex — may have been installed in utility buildings, control rooms, and maintenance shops
Sprayed-on asbestos fireproofing may have been applied to structural steel members
Deterioration or disturbance during maintenance and renovation may have released fibers from either material

Who May Have Been Exposed at Blount Street Station?

Asbestos exposure at power plants was not limited to any single trade. Multiple crafts worked in proximity to asbestos-containing materials, often simultaneously. Wisconsin union tradespeople — members of locals representing workers throughout the Madison area and the broader state — reportedly performed work at this facility across multiple decades.

If you are a former worker, retiree, or family member of someone who worked at Blount Street Station, Wisconsin’s three-year filing deadline under Wis. Stat. § 893.54 begins running from the date of diagnosis — and it will not wait. Review the trade-specific information below to understand whether your occupation may have placed you at risk, then contact an asbestos attorney Wisconsin today.

Insulation Workers (Heat and Frost Insulators)

Members of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 19 and related locals who performed work at the facility had the most direct contact with asbestos-containing insulation products
Applied, removed, and replaced pipe covering including Kaylo and Thermobestos on steam and condensate systems throughout the plant
Cutting, sawing, and fitting block insulation may have generated sustained airborne fiber releases in enclosed spaces
Insulators who may have worked at Blount Street Station frequently performed work at other MG&E facilities and at industrial sites throughout south-central Wisconsin where the same manufacturers’ products were allegedly in use

Boilermakers

Boilermakers — including members of Boilermakers Local 107 — who may have performed outage and maintenance work at the facility worked in close proximity to heavily insulated boiler systems
Boiler openings and tube replacements during scheduled outages may have disturbed substantial volumes of asbestos-containing insulation and refractory materials
Bystander exposure from other trades working simultaneously in the boiler room is well-documented

Madison Gas and Electric's Blount Street Station