Asbestos Exposure at Wausau Paper — Brokaw Mill

Brokaw, Wisconsin | Marathon County | Pulp & Paper Industry

⚠️ CRITICAL WISCONSIN FILING DEADLINE WARNING
Wisconsin’s statute of limitations for asbestos-related personal injury claims is THREE YEARS from the date of diagnosis — not the date of exposure — under Wis. Stat. § 893.54. If you or a family member has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or lung cancer linked to asbestos exposure at the Brokaw Mill or any other Wisconsin workplace, this deadline is already running. Missing it permanently eliminates your right to compensation. Asbestos trust fund claims can be filed simultaneously with a civil lawsuit in Wisconsin — but trust fund assets are finite and depleting as claims are paid out. Do not wait. Call a Wisconsin asbestos attorney today.

Workers at the Brokaw Mill May Have Faced Serious Occupational Asbestos Exposure

A mesothelioma diagnosis changes everything in an instant. If you worked at the Brokaw Mill — even decades ago — you need to know three things right now: asbestos-containing materials were allegedly present throughout this facility during the peak years of your employment, the diseases caused by that exposure take 20 to 50 years to appear, and Wisconsin’s three-year filing deadline under Wis. Stat. § 893.54 began running the day you received your diagnosis.

For more than a century, the Brokaw Mill operated as one of central Wisconsin’s largest industrial employers. Behind that industrial record lies a documented problem shared by paper mills across Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest: for decades, the facility allegedly relied on asbestos-containing materials throughout its steam systems, pipe insulation, boiler rooms, and process equipment.

Workers who spent their careers at this facility — including insulators from Asbestos Workers Local 19 (Milwaukee) and Heat and Frost Insulators Local 1, pipefitters from Pipefitters Local 601 and Plumbers and Pipefitters UA Local 562, boilermakers from Boilermakers Local 107, electricians from IBEW Local 494, maintenance mechanics, and production staff — as well as contractors, vendors, and family members of mill employees may have been exposed to airborne asbestos fibers. Asbestos causes mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer. Many former Brokaw Mill workers are now developing these diseases decades after their employment ended.

If you worked at the Brokaw Mill and have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or lung cancer, Wisconsin’s three-year filing deadline under Wis. Stat. § 893.54 began running the day you were diagnosed. Every day of delay is a day closer to losing your legal right to pursue compensation entirely. Wisconsin residents may file asbestos trust fund claims simultaneously with civil lawsuits — maximizing potential recovery — but those trust fund assets shrink with every claim paid. Call a Wisconsin asbestos attorney today.

Facility History: Wausau Paper’s Brokaw Mill

A Century of Industrial Operation in Central Wisconsin

The Brokaw Mill was established in the late nineteenth century along the Wisconsin River in the village of Brokaw, Marathon County. It became closely associated with Wausau Paper, one of Wisconsin’s most prominent paper manufacturers and a cornerstone employer of the state’s north-central industrial economy. For most of the twentieth century, the mill operated continuously as a major pulp and paper production facility, employing hundreds of workers from surrounding communities including Wausau, Mosinee, Rothschild, and Schofield.

The Brokaw Mill was part of a broader Wisconsin industrial landscape that included large manufacturing employers across the state — from the Milwaukee-area plants of Allen-Bradley, Allis-Chalmers in West Allis, Falk Corporation in Milwaukee, and A.O. Smith in Milwaukee, to the paper mills, foundries, and power generation facilities of central and northern Wisconsin. Like those facilities, the Brokaw Mill reportedly relied heavily on asbestos-containing materials during the peak decades of industrial asbestos use.

Wausau Paper closed the Brokaw Mill in 2012, ending over a century of paper production at the site. For former employees and their families, a separate and more immediate problem has since emerged: decades of alleged occupational asbestos exposure now manifesting as life-threatening disease. If you worked at this mill and have since received a diagnosis, Wisconsin’s three-year statute of limitations under Wis. Stat. § 893.54 means the clock is already ticking — and it will not stop.

Why Paper Mills Required Asbestos Insulation and Created Asbestos Exposure Risk

Paper mills are thermal processing facilities. Like every large-scale paper mill and industrial manufacturing facility of its era — including the heavy manufacturing plants throughout Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, and the Fox Valley — the Brokaw Mill required enormous quantities of steam energy to drive production:

Pulp digesters cook wood chips under extreme heat and pressure to separate cellulose fibers
Paper machines use steam-heated dryer sections to pull moisture from the paper web
Boilers generate high-pressure steam distributed through miles of insulated pipe
Recovery boilers burn spent pulping chemicals to recover energy

From the 1920s through the late 1970s, asbestos-containing materials were the industry standard for insulating these systems throughout Wisconsin industry. Manufacturers including Johns-Manville, Owens-Illinois, Armstrong World Industries, Celotex, and W.R. Grace promoted asbestos as fireproof, durable, and cost-effective — while internal documents later revealed in litigation showed they knew of the health hazards decades before they placed warnings on products or disclosed the risks publicly. Wisconsin workers at facilities across the state — from the shipyards of Sturgeon Bay to the paper mills of the Wisconsin River Valley — were among those placed at risk by this concealment. The companies that profited from this concealment have since established asbestos bankruptcy trust funds containing billions of dollars — funds available to qualifying victims now through a Wisconsin mesothelioma lawyer, but shrinking with every passing month as claims are paid out.

Asbestos-Containing Materials Allegedly Present at the Brokaw Mill

Based on equipment and processes typical of paper mills of this era and size, and on patterns documented in asbestos litigation involving similar Wisconsin pulp and paper facilities, former workers and contractors at the Brokaw Mill may have encountered asbestos-containing materials in the following categories:

Pipe Insulation and Lagging

Steam distribution lines throughout the mill were reportedly insulated with pipe covering products manufactured and sold by Johns-Manville and Owens-Illinois
Trade names included Kaylo and Thermobestos, among others
Pipe lagging from Johns-Manville, Armstrong World Industries, and Owens-Illinois may have contained asbestos-containing materials
Workers who cut, removed, re-insulated, or worked near these pipe systems may have inhaled respirable asbestos fibers
The same pipe insulation products allegedly used at Brokaw are documented in litigation involving comparable Wisconsin facilities including the Consolidated Papers mill in Wisconsin Rapids and the Mosinee Paper mill

Block Insulation

Boilers, steam vessels, and high-temperature equipment were reportedly covered with block insulation products containing chrysotile or amosite asbestos from Johns-Manville, Armstrong World Industries, and Celotex
Products included Armstrong brand industrial insulation and Johns-Manville block insulation
Installation, repair, and removal of block insulation generated airborne dust
Wisconsin insulators dispatched through union halls including Asbestos Workers Local 19 and Heat and Frost Insulators Local 1 regularly worked with these materials at paper mill facilities throughout the state

Boiler and Furnace Insulation

Power plant and recovery boiler systems allegedly required extensive asbestos-containing insulation on boiler shells, flues, breechings, and associated equipment reportedly supplied by Johns-Manville and Combustion Engineering
Stripping old insulation and applying new material during boiler repair ranks among the highest-risk activities for asbestos exposure in any industrial setting
Boilermakers Local 107 members dispatched to the Brokaw Mill for repair and maintenance outages may have been among those most heavily exposed to asbestos-containing insulation materials during this work

Spray-Applied and Loose-Fill Insulation

Boiler rooms and equipment areas may have had asbestos-containing spray-applied fireproofing and loose-fill insulation from W.R. Grace and other suppliers
Products including Grace Monokote were commonly applied to structural steel and pipe
Spray application and removal generated heavy airborne asbestos dust

Fourdrinier Paper Machine Components

Fourdrinier machines include steam-heated dryer cylinders
Gasket materials on dryer sections, steam joints, and valve connections reportedly contained compressed asbestos fiber from manufacturers including Garlock Sealing Technologies
Workers who cut or removed old gasket materials during maintenance may have been exposed to asbestos-containing materials

Digesters

Batch and continuous digesters operate at high temperatures and pressures
These vessels and their associated piping may have been insulated with asbestos-containing materials from Johns-Manville, Armstrong World Industries, and Celotex
Seals may have used asbestos-containing gaskets and packing from Garlock Sealing Technologies and other manufacturers

Steam Dryers and Cylinder Dryers

The dryer section of a paper machine includes dozens or hundreds of individual steam-heated cylinders
Maintenance workers who repacked steam joints on these cylinders reportedly used asbestos-containing rope packing and Superex gasket materials
This work may have exposed workers repeatedly throughout their careers

Building Materials

Asbestos-containing floor tiles, ceiling materials, insulation batts, and spray-applied fireproofing were standard in Wisconsin industrial buildings of this era
Products including Gold Bond and Sheetrock brand materials, along with insulation containing Unibestos asbestos fiber, were widely used
Workers who performed renovation, repair, or demolition work on these materials may have been exposed to asbestos-containing materials
These same building products appear in NESHAP abatement records from Wisconsin industrial facilities across Marathon, Wood, Portage, and Clark Counties

Which Trades Faced the Highest Exposure Risk at the Brokaw Mill

Asbestos exposure at industrial facilities like the Brokaw Mill was not confined to one job category. Decades of asbestos litigation in Wisconsin’s Milwaukee County Circuit Court and in federal courts, along with occupational health research, demonstrate that multiple trades working in and around Wisconsin’s heavy industry faced serious exposure risks — frequently without warning or protective equipment. If you worked in any of the trades described below at the Brokaw Mill and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or lung cancer, Wisconsin’s three-year filing deadline under Wis. Stat. § 893.54 means you cannot afford to delay.

Insulators (Heat and Frost Insulators / Asbestos Workers)

Journeymen insulators and apprentices from Asbestos Workers Local 19 (Milwaukee) and Heat and Frost Insulators Local 1 who worked on pipe covering, boiler insulation, and equipment lagging at Brokaw and similar Wisconsin mills may have faced some of the highest exposures of any trade
Cutting, fitting, and applying asbestos-containing block insulation from Johns-Manville, Armstrong World Industries, and Celotex — along with products like Kaylo and Thermobestos — allegedly generated heavy airborne dust
Local 1 and Local 19 members dispatched to the Brokaw Mill as contractors may have had repeated, heavy exposures throughout their careers working at Wisconsin River Valley industrial facilities
Insulators who worked at multiple northern Wisconsin mills may have accumulated asbestos exposures across job sites over decades

Pipefitters and Steamfitters

Members of Pipefitters Local 601 and Plumbers and Pipefitters UA Local 562 installed, repaired, and maintained the mill’s steam distribution systems, which were allegedly insulated with asbestos-containing products from Johns-Manville and Owens-Illinois
Disturbing existing pipe insulation during routine maintenance and repair — cutting into lagged lines, removing damaged covering, working in tight equipment spaces where insulation debris accumulated — may have exposed these workers to respirable asbestos fibers throughout their careers

Wausau Paper