About Port Washington Power Station | Port

Port Washington Generating Station was a coal-fired power plant operated by Wisconsin Electric Power Company in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, with seven generating units that operated from 1935 to the 2000s. The facility included Units 1–4 (coal-fired, Arch-type boilers manufactured by Alstom/Fw), Unit 5 (coal-fired, Dsaa-type boiler), and Unit 6 (a 19.6 MW oil-fired gas turbine unit commissioned in 1968). The plant operated continuously for over 70 years, with most units retired by 2002. The facility’s boiler systems operated at high steam pressures (ranging from 1230 to 1450 PSI) and temperatures (825°F to 950°F), requiring extensive thermal insulation systems and refractory materials throughout the power generation and steam distribution infrastructure.

General Equipment at Port Washington Power Station | Port

The equipment below represents the systems and infrastructure documented or typically present at this facility during the era when asbestos-containing materials were specified in industrial construction. This is general facility-equipment reference — not a legal attribution of any specific product, manufacturer, or exposure event to this facility. Material-category and manufacturer information is addressed in the AsbestosIndex Product Crosswalk linked under the records table below.

Boilers View crosswalk › Steam Turbines View crosswalk › Steam Traps View crosswalk › Condensers View crosswalk › Feedwater Heaters View crosswalk › Cooling Towers View crosswalk › Pipe Insulation View crosswalk › Block Insulation View crosswalk › Refractory Lining View crosswalk › Valves View crosswalk › Gaskets View crosswalk › Pumps View crosswalk ›

Documented Asbestos Evidence — Wisconsin

The records below are verified, state-documented asbestos removals at this facility. Each entry represents a regulated abatement project where the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (Wisconsin DNR) was notified under federal NESHAP rules, the work was logged, and the asbestos-containing material was confirmed and removed under regulated conditions. These are not allegations or estimates — they are paper records tying documented asbestos-containing material to this specific site.

The following generating units are documented in the North American Electric Generating Plants database for this facility. This database is maintained by UDI/S&P Global and draws on federal EIA filings and state regulatory records.

Material Categories in Documented Records

The materials documented above (and similar asbestos-containing materials commonly encountered in records of this type) appear in the AsbestosIndex catalog with historical manufacturer and trust-fund information. Click a category to view manufacturers historically associated with that material:

Thermal System Insulation View crosswalk › Asbestos-Cement Board View crosswalk › Pipe Insulation View crosswalk › Roofing & Flashing View crosswalk › Spray Fireproofing View crosswalk › Floor Tile & Mastic View crosswalk › Ceiling Tile View crosswalk › Gaskets & Packing View crosswalk ›

Who May Have Been Exposed at Port Washington Power Station | Port

Insulators — particularly members of Heat and Frost Insulators Local 1 — carried among the highest documented mesothelioma and asbestos-related lung cancer risks at the facility due to direct contact with asbestos-containing calcium silicate pipe insulation and other thermal insulation products. Pipefitters and steam fitters installed, maintained, and replaced heavily insulated pipe systems and handled asbestos-containing gaskets, packing materials, and joint compounds during routine maintenance and emergency repairs. Boilermakers fabricated, installed, and repaired boiler components, working directly with boiler block insulation, refractory materials, and asbestos-containing gaskets, with particular exposure risk during scheduled outages when boilers were opened for repair. Electricians, instrument technicians, millwrights, equipment mechanics, and general maintenance personnel experienced both direct and bystander exposure to asbestos-containing materials throughout the facility. Demolition and abatement workers involved in decommissioning and removal of insulated pipe systems, boiler insulation, and other asbestos-containing components during plant closure experienced high-intensity exposure without adequate respiratory protection.

Wisconsin — Filing Deadline & Next Steps

Wisconsin law gives mesothelioma and asbestos-disease claimants 3 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury lawsuit (Wis. Stat. § 893.54). For wrongful-death claims after an asbestos-related death, the filing window is 3 years from the date of death (Wis. Stat. § 893.54). The two deadlines run on separate tracks — preserving one does not extend the other.

The personal-injury clock runs from diagnosis, not from exposure. Mesothelioma latency is typically 20 to 50 years, so workers exposed in the 1950s–1980s are being diagnosed today.

Practical first steps

  1. Document what you remember. Pay stubs, W-2s, union cards, photographs, coworker names, and dates of employment. The WorkChain widget on this page can save a copy you can email yourself.
  2. Preserve medical records. Pathology reports, biopsy results, imaging, and pulmonary-function tests are central to both civil claims and trust-fund filings.
  3. Identify household members. Spouses who laundered work clothing and children of plant workers are eligible for secondary-exposure claims when diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease.
  4. Speak with an asbestos attorney with Wisconsin experience. The first conversation is free and confidential. Asbestos trust-fund claims and civil claims run on different tracks — both can be pursued in parallel.

Asbestos-Related Diseases — Wisconsin

Asbestos fiber exposure can cause several specific diseases that typically appear decades after the original exposure. The latency period — the gap between exposure and diagnosis — usually runs 20 to 50 years. That's why workers exposed in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s are receiving diagnoses today.

Mesothelioma

A rare, aggressive cancer that affects the lining of the lungs (pleural mesothelioma), abdomen (peritoneal), or heart (pericardial). Mesothelioma is almost exclusively caused by asbestos exposure, which is why a mesothelioma diagnosis often points directly to historical workplace exposure. Average latency from first exposure to diagnosis is 30-50 years.

Asbestosis

A chronic, non-cancerous scarring of lung tissue caused by inhaled asbestos fibers. Asbestosis causes progressive shortness of breath, persistent cough, and reduced lung function. It does not improve with treatment, and it is a recognized basis for compensation under most trust schedules and civil claims.

Lung Cancer

Asbestos exposure significantly increases the risk of lung cancer, particularly when combined with a history of smoking. Asbestos-related lung cancer is compensable under the same trust schedules and civil claim avenues as mesothelioma.

Other Recognized Diseases

Pleural plaques, pleural thickening, laryngeal cancer, ovarian cancer, and certain gastrointestinal cancers are also recognized as asbestos-related under various trust schedules and case-law authorities, though eligibility and proof requirements vary by claim type.

If you have any of these diagnoses and you worked at this facility, lived with someone who did, or were exposed in any documented capacity, you may have a claim worth pursuing. Speak with an attorney before assuming you don't qualify.

Cross-State & Regional Corridor Workers

Union workers in the insulation, pipefitting, boilermaking, and electrical trades routinely followed work across state lines through dispatch systems operated by regional locals. A journeyman insulator from Heat and Frost Insulators Local 1 in St. Louis might spend months at Labadie, travel to Port Washington for a scheduled outage, then return to Portage des Sioux. Union workers dispatched from UA Local 562 (United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters) throughout Wisconsin, Illinois, and the surrounding region may have been dispatched to Port Washington as part of major industrial maintenance projects throughout the Mississippi River corridor. Boilermakers Local 27 (St. Louis, Missouri) represents boilermakers throughout Wisconsin and the surrounding region, with members potentially dispatched to Port Washington and other regional power facilities.

Data Sources — Wisconsin

Information about facility equipment, industrial materials, and occupational records referenced on this page is drawn from publicly available sources where applicable, including:

If specific equipment or product claims in this article are sourced from a non-public database, the source is identified parenthetically within the text above.