About Wood River Power Station
The Wood River Power Station sits in Wood River, Illinois, in Madison County—one of the most active asbestos litigation jurisdictions in the country, largely because of the industrial density along the Metro East corridor stretching across the Mississippi River into Missouri.
Key Facts:
- Illinois Power Company operated the facility
- Illinois Power passed through Dynegy Inc. before Ameren Corporation acquired it
- The plant sits at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, surrounded by facilities that employed tens of thousands of workers with documented heavy asbestos exposure: Shell Oil Roxana Refinery (Wood River), Clark Refinery (Wood River), Monsanto Chemical (Sauget/St. Louis), Granite City Steel/U.S. Steel (Granite City), Laclede Steel (Alton), and Alton Box Board (Alton)
- Wood River shares ownership history and industrial character with other Ameren-affiliated plants: Labadie Energy Center (Franklin County, MO), Portage des Sioux Power Plant (St. Charles County, MO), Sioux Energy Center (St. Charles County, MO), and Rush Island Energy Center (Jefferson County, MO)
This cross-river industrial corridor created the widespread asbestos exposure Missouri and Illinois workers carried through their entire careers.
Why Coal-Fired Power Plants Used Asbestos
Wood River is an industrial complex engineered around extreme heat. Every major system required thermal insulation, fire resistance, or mechanical sealing—and from original construction through the early 1980s, asbestos-containing materials provided all three.
The facility contained:
- Steam-generating boilers running at extreme temperatures and pressures, insulated with block and blanket insulation** containing chrysotile and amosite asbestos
- Miles of high-temperature steam and condensate piping covered with Asbestos Pipe Covering**, / asbestos blankets**, insulation**, and Carey asbestos products
- Turbine generators with casings and steam inlets insulated using calcium silicate pipe insulation block insulation and Thermobestos products
- Condensers, heat exchangers, and feedwater heaters insulated with pipe insulation asbestos insulation
- Electrical systems including switchgear, arc chutes, and insulated wiring containing asbestos components
- Pumps, valves, and flanges sealed with gaskets and packing and asbestos rope packing
- Auxiliary equipment rooms with spray-applied fireproofing asbestos spray-applied fireproofing and high-temperature pipe insulation products on mechanical systems
- Boiler refractory materials including asbestos-containing castable refractories and Cranite asbestos-cement products
No commercial substitute for asbestos insulation existed at scale until the 1970s and 1980s—by which point workers had already spent decades breathing the fibers.
General Equipment at Wood River Power Station
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.
Documented Asbestos Evidence
The records below are verified, state-documented asbestos removals at this facility. Each entry represents a regulated abatement project where the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) 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 9 project notification(s) are documented with the Illinois EPA (NESHAP program) for Springfield City Utilities in Springfield. These are public regulatory records.
| Project ID | Year | Site / Building | Operation | ACM Removed | Contractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A5937-2012 | 2013 | 2013 O&M James River Power Station | OM | 160sf frbl boiler/tank insulation, 260 lf frbl pipe/fitting insulation | Gerken Environmental Enterprises Inc. |
| A6301-2013 | 2014 | 2014 O&M James River Power Station | OM | 160sf frbl equipment insulation, 260 lf frbl pipe insulation | Gerken Environmental Enterprises Inc. |
| A6619-2015 | 2015 | 2015 O&M James River Power Station | OM | 160sf frbl equipment insulation, 260 lf frbl pipe insulation | Gerken Environmental Enterprises Inc. |
| A6906-2015 | 2016 | 2016 O&M James River Power Station | OM | 160sf frbl equipment insulation, 260 lf frbl pipe insulation | Gerken Environmental Enterprises Inc. |
| A7493-2017 | 2018 | 2018 O&M James River Power Station | OM | 160sf frbl equipment insulation, 260 lf frbl pipe insulation | Gerken Environmental Enterprises Inc. |
| A5650-2011 | 2012 | 2012 O&M James River Power Station | OM | 40sf frbl/50sf non-frbl insulation,3 lf pipe/fixture wrap. Potential sources … | Gerken Environmental Enterprises Inc. |
| A6328-2014 | 2014 | City Utilities Administrative Offices | Renovation | 1000sf frbl flooring mastic | Gerken Environmental Enterprises Inc. |
| 4693-2008 | 2008 | Vacant Bldg to be demolished | Demolition | Ceiling Texture | Gerken Environmental Enterprises Inc. |
| 2009 | 2015 | Springfield City Utilities Main Office-2nd Flr Offc/Mtg | A | 1000sf non-frbl floor mastic glue | Gerken Environmental Enterprises Inc. |
Source: Illinois EPA, NESHAP Asbestos Abatement & Demolition/Renovation Notification Program — public 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:
Critical Filing Deadline & Next Steps
Illinois law gives mesothelioma and asbestos-disease claimants 2 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury lawsuit (735 ILCS 5/13-202). For wrongful-death claims after an asbestos-related death, the filing window is 2 years from the date of death (740 ILCS 180/2). 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
- 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.
- Preserve medical records. Pathology reports, biopsy results, imaging, and pulmonary-function tests are central to both civil claims and trust-fund filings.
- 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.
- Speak with an asbestos attorney with Illinois 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
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.
Data Sources
Information about facility equipment, industrial materials, and occupational records referenced on this page is drawn from publicly available sources where applicable, including:
- EPA ECHO Facility Compliance Database — enforcement and compliance records for industrial facilities
- OSHA Establishment Search — federal workplace inspection history
- EIA Form 860 Plant Data — power-plant equipment and ownership records (where applicable)
- Illinois Environmental Protection Agency NESHAP asbestos abatement notification records
- Published asbestos trial and trust fund records (publicly filed court documents)
- AsbestosIndex Product & Manufacturer Crosswalk — historical asbestos-containing product schedules linked to manufacturers
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.