Asbestos Exposure at the Moline Power Station
The Moline generating station in Moline, IL was operated by Midamerican Energy Co beginning in 1952. Workers who maintained, repaired, or worked alongside this facility’s boilers, turbines, pipe systems, and electrical switchgear may have been exposed to asbestos used in equipment insulation, gaskets, packing, refractory linings, and protective garments during much of the 20th century.
Statute of Limitations — Two Deadlines
Illinois’s personal-injury statute of limitations is 2 years from the date of diagnosis (735 ILCS 5/13-202). The wrongful-death deadline is 2 years from the date of death (740 ILCS 180/2). These deadlines run independently.
About the two deadlines: Illinois keeps the personal-injury clock (735 ILCS 5/13-202) and the wrongful-death clock (740 ILCS 180/2) on separate tracks. The 2-year personal-injury deadline runs from the date of diagnosis and applies to the diagnosed person’s own claim while they are alive. The 2-year wrongful-death deadline runs from the date of death and applies to surviving family members. The two are independent — preserving one does not extend the other, and an experienced asbestos attorney can keep both options open as the situation evolves.
Documented Equipment & Construction Manifest
The following equipment and construction firms are documented in the historical power-plant equipment record for Moline. Equipment manufacturers named here are limited to documented boiler, turbine, generator, particulate-control, architect/engineer, and construction-contractor entries — these are the named OEMs of installed plant equipment per public records.
| Element | Documented OEM / Firm |
|---|---|
| Operating period | 1952 – 1954 |
| Documented units | 3 |
| Boiler / steam supplier | Riley Stoker |
| Turbine manufacturer | Westinghouse |
| Generator manufacturer | Westinghouse |
Insulation, gaskets, refractories, and other asbestos-containing materials supplied with this equipment are addressed via the AsbestosIndex Product Crosswalk. Documented OEMs reflect equipment installed by year of unit construction.
Typical Asbestos-Exposure Pathways at Power Stations
Power-station workers in the 1950s–1980s commonly encountered asbestos through:
- Boiler insulation — block, blanket, and cement applied to fireboxes, steam drums, and external boiler surfaces
- Pipe covering — pre-formed asbestos pipe insulation on steam, condensate, and process piping throughout the plant
- Turbine lagging — asbestos insulation wrapped around steam turbines and generator casings
- Gaskets & packing — compressed asbestos sheet gaskets and braided packing in valves, pumps, and flanged joints
- Refractory — asbestos-bearing refractory cements, gunning mixes, and castables in boiler fireboxes
- Electrical insulation — arc chutes, panel-board liners, and switchgear barriers
- Protective garments — asbestos cloth gloves, aprons, and welding blankets handled by workers
Workers who installed, repaired, or removed any of these materials — and family members exposed secondhand through work clothing — may have viable claims.
Important legal note on lung cancer + workers’ compensation: Recovery for asbestos-related lung cancer through Illinois workers’ compensation is typically not viable for workers who smoked — apportionment and causation defenses generally defeat the claim. Civil litigation against asbestos product manufacturers and bankruptcy trust funds are the primary recovery paths for asbestos-exposed smokers with lung cancer, since those forums can address asbestos as a contributing cause regardless of smoking history. Pleural plaques without functional impairment are not on their own a compensable injury through either system, though they remain important medical evidence if disease later progresses.
What To Do If You Worked at Moline
- Document your diagnosis — pathology reports, hospital records, physician correspondence
- Preserve employment records — union cards, W-2s, pay stubs, pension statements
- Note every jobsite, even briefly — the attorney’s investigative team will reconstruct exposure history from union pension records, Social Security earnings history, and OSHA inspection reports
- Consult an experienced asbestos attorney — they can evaluate civil-litigation, trust-fund, and (where applicable) workers’-compensation paths
This page describes documented equipment and historical exposure pathways — it is not a finding of liability for any specific manufacturer or operator. Each individual case depends on personal exposure history, diagnosis, and the applicable statutes of limitation. Consult a licensed Illinois attorney for legal advice.