Illinois Law Applies to This Jobsite — Act Immediately
This facility is located in Illinois. Asbestos exposure claims arising from work at Illinois jobsites are governed by Illinois law, not Missouri law. Illinois’s statute of limitations for asbestos personal injury claims is 2 years from the date of diagnosis under 735 ILCS 5/13-202 — significantly shorter than Missouri’s 5-year deadline under §516.120.
Missouri residents who worked at this Illinois facility may have claims subject to both Illinois and Missouri law depending on where exposure occurred and which compensation avenue is pursued. Illinois court claims run on the Illinois five-year deadline. Asbestos bankruptcy trust claims run on separate internal trust deadlines. Do not assume Missouri’s 5-year window applies — if you have been diagnosed, consult an attorney who practices in both states immediately.

Venice Power Plant Asbestos Claims: A Legal Guide for Missouri Workers and Families

Workers at the Venice Power Plant in Venice, Illinois may have been exposed to asbestos for decades. Manufacturers including Johns-Manville, Owens-Illinois, Eagle-Picher, and Garlock Sealing Technologies have been alleged in publicly filed asbestos litigation to have failed to adequately warn workers of health risks associated with their products. Boilermakers, pipefitters, insulators, electricians, and millwrights who worked at this facility are now developing mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer. So are family members exposed to asbestos dust carried home on work clothes and skin. If you were just diagnosed, your clock is already running — and Missouri’s filing deadline is under direct legislative attack right now.

Source note: Products, equipment, and companies identified in this article are drawn from public asbestos litigation records, court filings, EPA and OSHA regulatory databases, and publicly available industry records. Product identifications and company references reflect what has been alleged or documented in publicly filed litigation. This article does not constitute a finding of liability against any company.

⚠️ CRITICAL DEADLINE WARNING FOR MISSOURI RESIDENTS
Missouri law currently gives mesothelioma patients 5 years from diagnosis to file a claim under Missouri Revised Statutes §516.120. That deadline runs from the day you received your medical diagnosis — not from when you were exposed, which may have been decades ago.
That 5-year window is now under direct legislative threat.
**Missouri If enacted, HB 1664 would cut the filing deadline from 5 years to 3 years — eliminating two full years that mesothelioma patients and their families currently have to build and file their cases.
Even with 5 years on the clock today, waiting kills cases. Critical witnesses are dying. Employment records are disappearing. HB 1664 could be signed into law at any moment.
Call an asbestos attorney in Missouri today.

What Was the Venice Power Plant?

The Venice Power Plant operated in Venice, Illinois — Madison County, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis in the Metro East region. It generated up to 586 megawatts of electricity, primarily on natural gas, and served as a key facility in the greater St. Louis power grid.

Who Owned and Operated It?

Union Electric Co. — the Missouri-based utility that owned and operated the facility for decades
Ameren Corp. — the successor company that absorbed Union Electric
AmerenEnergy Generating Co. — an Ameren subsidiary connected to facility operations

Venice sits at the heart of the Mississippi River industrial corridor — one of the most heavily industrialized stretches of waterway in North America, running from St. Louis south through the Metro East. This corridor concentrated asbestos-intensive industries on both sides of the river for most of the twentieth century. On the Missouri side, facilities including Labadie Energy Center, Portage des Sioux Power Plant, Monsanto Chemical operations, and the industrial complex at Granite City Steel employed many of the same tradespeople who worked at Venice. Workers in this region routinely accumulated asbestos exposure across multiple Missouri and Illinois sites over the course of a single career.

The plant employed hundreds of skilled tradespeople throughout its operational life — including members of Heat and Frost Insulators Local 1 out of St. Louis, Plumbers and Pipefitters UA Local 562, and Boilermakers Local 27 — concentrated especially during turnarounds, the planned maintenance shutdowns when workers flooded the most asbestos-contaminated areas of the facility.

Generating Units — Official EIA Form 860 Record

The following unit-level data is drawn from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Form EIA-860 Annual Electric Generator Report, the official federal registry of every U.S. power generating unit.

Unit	Online Date	Nameplate Capacity	Prime Mover	Fuel Type	Status
Unit GT2	June 2002	61 MW	Gas Turbine	Natural Gas	Operating
Unit GT3	June 2005	200 MW	Gas Turbine	Natural Gas	Operating
Unit GT4	June 2005	200 MW	Gas Turbine	Natural Gas	Operating
Unit GT5	October 2005	125 MW	Gas Turbine	Natural Gas	Operating

Total nameplate capacity: 586.0 MW (EIA-verified)

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-860 Annual Electric Generator Report — EIA Plant Code 913

Alleged Equipment Manufacturers

The current operating units (GT2-5, 2002-2005) were built after the primary period of asbestos use in industrial construction. The historically significant asbestos-era equipment at this facility includes earlier generating units no longer reflected in current EIA records. Gas Turbine Unit 1 (37.5 MW, 1967, now retired) is alleged, based on North American powerhouse database records, to have been a Westinghouse W301 gas turbine-generator package. The earlier coal- and gas-fired steam generating units (1942-1950, all retired) are alleged to have been equipped with boiler systems supplied by Combustion Engineering, Riley Stoker, and Babcock & Wilcox, with turbines and generators from Allis-Chalmers, General Electric, and Westinghouse — equipment manufacturers whose components have been alleged in publicly filed asbestos litigation to incorporate asbestos-containing refractory, insulation, gaskets, and turbine casing materials throughout their respective systems.

Why Was the Plant Full of Asbestos?

A natural gas-fired power plant runs on extreme heat and pressure. Johns-Manville, Owens-Illinois, Eagle-Picher, and their industry peers marketed asbestos as the solution to every thermal management challenge:

Boiler fireboxes reached temperatures exceeding 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit
High-pressure steam traveled through miles of piping to drive turbine generators
Turbines spun at thousands of revolutions per minute under intense heat
Every valve, flange, pump, and expansion joint experienced constant thermal cycling

Asbestos was built into the plant at every level — not accidentally, but through deliberate design and procurement decisions guided by industry standards that Johns-Manville, W.R. Grace, and Combustion Engineering helped write.

Where Was Asbestos Hidden Inside the Plant?

Asbestos-containing materials appeared throughout the Venice Power Plant in:

Pipe insulation — Owens-Illinois Kaylo and Eagle-Picher Thermobestos calcium silicate pipe covering wrapped around steam lines throughout the facility
Boiler insulation and refractory materials — Johns-Manville block and blanket insulation and W.R. Grace Monokote spray-applied fireproofing on boiler casings and fireboxes
Gaskets — Garlock Sealing Technologies compressed asbestos sheet gaskets and Cranite gasket material at every flange connection, valve body, pump housing, and heat exchanger
Valve and pump packing — Garlock braided asbestos rope packing in valve stems and pump shafts throughout the facility’s high-pressure systems
Thermal block insulation — Eagle-Picher Thermobestos and Johns-Manville Unibestos pre-formed block on turbine casings, high-pressure steam headers, and exhaust systems
Electrical insulation — Armstrong World Industries asbestos cloth, tape, and board in switchgear, panel boxes, and cable trays
Expansion joints — Johns-Manville woven asbestos fabric bellows where piping needed flexibility under thermal expansion
Floor tile and ceiling tile — Armstrong World Industries and Celotex asbestos-containing vinyl floor tile and ceiling materials in control rooms and auxiliary buildings
Fireproofing — W.R. Grace Monokote spray-applied asbestos on structural steel throughout the main building

Who Was Exposed to Asbestos at Venice Power Plant?

Trades with the Heaviest Asbestos Exposure

Workers in the following trades faced direct, repeated contact with asbestos-containing materials including Kaylo, Thermobestos, Monokote, and Garlock packing:

Boilermakers — members of Boilermakers Local 27 who worked inside and around Combustion Engineering boiler systems packed with Johns-Manville asbestos refractory and W.R. Grace Monokote insulation. Many of these same members worked across the river at Labadie Energy Center and Portage des Sioux, accumulating exposures at multiple Mississippi River corridor facilities throughout their careers
Pipefitters — members of Plumbers and Pipefitters UA Local 562 who cut, removed, and replaced Owens-Illinois Kaylo-insulated steam lines and repacked Garlock valve packing throughout the facility. UA Local 562 members regularly crossed between Illinois and Missouri jobsites, working at Venice, Labadie, and Monsanto operations in the same years
Insulators — members of Heat and Frost Insulators Local 1 who applied and removed Eagle-Picher Thermobestos pipe insulation and Johns-Manville block insulation throughout the plant. Local 1’s jurisdiction covered both sides of the river, and its members worked at virtually every major facility in the corridor — including Portage des Sioux, Granite City Steel, and the Monsanto Chemical complex in Sauget
Electricians — worked with Armstrong World Industries asbestos-containing board, tape, and cloth in switchgear and cable systems
Millwrights — maintained turbines and mechanical systems surrounded by Johns-Manville Unibestos block and Garlock gasket materials

Family Members: Secondary Asbestos Exposure and Missouri Legal Rights

Exposure did not end at the plant gate. Workers carried fibers from Kaylo, Thermobestos, Monokote, and Garlock packing home on their clothing, hair, and skin. Many lived in the St. Louis Metro area — in Granite City, Alton, Collinsville, and across the river in St. Louis County and St. Louis City — bringing contaminated work clothes into family homes every shift. Family members who:

Laundered work clothes saturated with Johns-Manville and Eagle-Picher asbestos dust
Greeted workers at the door before contaminated clothing was removed
Lived in the same household as insulators, pipefitters, or boilermakers

…were exposed to the same fibers that caused mesothelioma and asbestosis in workers. Secondary exposure is legally compensable under Missouri law and has been recognized by courts in both Madison County, Illinois and St. Louis City Circuit Court. Family members in this situation should speak with an asbestos attorney in Missouri about eligibility to file an asbestos lawsuit or access asbestos trust fund distributions.

Which Companies Supplied the Asbestos Products?

Public litigation records identify multiple manufacturers that supplied asbestos-containing products to Venice Power Plant. Johns-Manville, Owens-Illinois, Eagle-Picher, Garlock Sealing Technologies, W.R. Grace, Armstrong World Industries, Celotex, Crane Co., Georgia-Pacific, and Combustion Engineering have all been named as defendants in asbestos litigation connected to facilities throughout the Madison County, St. Clair County, and St. Louis Metro East region.

Combustion Engineering

Combustion Engineering designed and built the complete boiler systems at Venice Power Plant — delivering those systems with asbestos insulation, refractory, and thermal components already integrated into the design. Combustion Engineering was not a passive supplier. Its engineers specified asbestos-containing materials, its sales representatives promoted them, and its installation crews used them. Combustion Engineering’s asbestos liability is now held by Lummus Technology following corporate restructuring, and claims against it are handled through the **CE Asbestos Personal Injury Settlement

Litigation Landscape

Workers at coal-fired and gas-fired power plants face significant asbestos exposure risks from insulation, gaskets, valve packing, and equipment components. At facilities like the Venice Power Plant, manufacturers including Combustion Engineering, Babcock & Wilcox, Johns-Manville, Crane Co., Armstrong, Garlock, and W.R. Grace supplied asbestos-containing products commonly installed in boilers, turbines, pipes, and auxiliary equipment. These manufacturers have been named as defendants in documented asbestos litigation arising from power plant worker exposure across Illinois and the Midwest.

When manufacturers filed for bankruptcy, they established trust funds to compensate injured workers. The most relevant trusts for power plant workers exposed to products from this era include the Combustion Engineering Asbestos Settlement Trust, Babcock & Wilcox asbestos trusts, Johns-Manville Settlement Trust, Crane Co. asbestos trusts, Armstrong Industries trust, Garlock Sealing Technologies trust, and the W.R. Grace bankruptcy trusts. Each trust maintains specific claim procedures and schedules of covered diseases, with mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis qualifying for compensation under most programs.

Publicly filed litigation demonstrates that asbestos claims from power plant facilities have proceeded through both trust resolution and civil court litigation, particularly when multiple manufacturers or premises liability theories apply. The combination of occupational exposure and potential third-party negligence (such as contractor or maintenance failures) has supported documented settlements in similar cases.

Workers who spent time at the Venice Power Plant and subsequently developed mesothelioma, lung cancer, or asbestosis should act promptly to preserve their claims. An experienced Missouri mesothelioma attorney can evaluate your exposure history, identify applicable trust funds and manufacturers, and advise on the best path forward. Contact O’Brien Law Firm to discuss your case.

Missouri DNR Asbestos Notification Records

The following 2 project notification(s) are documented with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (NESHAP program) for Ameren Missouri in Festus. These are public regulatory records.

Project ID	Year	Site / Building	Operation	ACM Removed	Contractor
A8955-2025	2025	Ameren Rush Island Power Plant	Demolition	25lf frbl TSI, 120sf frbl tank insul, 680lf frbl closth wire insul, 136sf frb…	American Asbestos Abatement dba Midwest Service Group
8696-2017	2017	Rush Island Auxillary Service Building-south side	Demolition	TSI, roof drip edge (TSI-300lf,rf-1200lf)	Spirtas Wrecking Company

Source: Missouri Department of Natural Resources, NESHAP Asbestos Abatement & Demolition/Renovation Notification Program — public regulatory records.

Recent News & Developments

No specific recent news articles or regulatory enforcement actions appear in publicly accessible records specifically naming the Venice Power Plant in Venice, Illinois (near East St. Louis) in connection with asbestos-related incidents, OSHA citations, or EPA enforcement proceedings within the most recent reporting period. However, the absence of indexed recent coverage does not indicate a clean regulatory history, and the general regulatory framework governing facilities of this type remains actively enforced.

Regulatory Landscape for Coal-Fired and Industrial Power Plants

Facilities of the Venice Power Plant’s era and type — coal-fired steam generating stations constructed during the mid-twentieth century — fall squarely within the scope of EPA’s National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP), codified at 40 CFR Part 61, Subpart M. These regulations impose strict notification, inspection, and abatement requirements prior to any demolition or renovation activity at structures known or suspected to contain asbestos-containing materials (ACM). Any decommissioning or structural alteration at the Venice facility would legally trigger these obligations, requiring a certified asbestos inspector survey and proper ACM removal before work commences.

OSHA’s construction and general industry asbestos standards — 29 CFR 1926.1101 and 29 CFR 1910.1001 — similarly apply to any contractor, maintenance worker, or utility employee who disturbed insulated pipe, boiler lagging, turbine casing wrap, expansion joints, or gasket materials commonly installed in power generation facilities during the 1940s through the 1970s.

Product Identification Context

Power plants operating in the Illinois–Missouri region during that period routinely incorporated thermal insulation products supplied by manufacturers including Johns-Manville, Owens-Corning, Owens-Illinois, Combustion Engineering, Babcock & Wilcox, Armstrong World Industries, and W.R. Grace. These manufacturers supplied boiler block insulation, pipe covering, refractory cement, turbine packing, and floor tile products that have been documented through discovery records in asbestos litigation across hundreds of similar utility facilities. Workers in trades including pipefitters, boilermakers, electricians, millwrights, and laborers at coal-fired stations like the Venice Power Plant frequently encountered these materials during installation, repair, and routine maintenance cycles.

Demolition and Decommissioning Considerations

As aging Illinois power infrastructure has been retired in recent decades, regulatory agencies including the Illinois EPA and the U.S. EPA Region 5 office have monitored decommissioning activities at legacy generating stations throughout the Metro East region. Any demolition activity at the Venice Power Plant site — whether partial or complete — would be subject to NESHAP notification requirements filed with the Illinois EPA, creating a public record of ACM presence and abatement scope.

Individuals seeking documentation of specific OSHA inspection records for this facility may submit requests through OSHA’s online records portal. Illinois EPA NESHAP notifications are maintained as public records through the agency’s Division of Air Pollution Control.

Workers or former employees of Venice Power Plant Venice Illinois East St. Louis who were diagnosed with mesothelioma, lung cancer, or asbestosis may have legal rights under Missouri law. Missouri § 537.046 extends the civil filing window for occupational disease claims.