PPG Natrium Plant: The Overlooked Legacy of Asbestos in Wetzel County

PPG Natrium asbestos lawyer

As a PPG Natrium asbestos lawyer, I’ve helped West Virginians trace their exposure and fight for the justice they deserve.

For generations, the PPG chemical plant in Natrium, West Virginia employed thousands of workers in production, maintenance, and lab operations. Located along the Ohio River in Wetzel County, the facility was a major employer and part of the region’s industrial backbone.

But what many families never knew was that asbestos was used throughout the Natrium plant — especially in older insulation, piping systems, and maintenance areas. Today, former employees are being diagnosed with mesothelioma, a deadly cancer caused by asbestos exposure.

🏭 Where Was Asbestos Used at the Natrium Plant?

Based on historical industrial usage patterns, asbestos was likely present in:
• Pipe insulation and gaskets
• Boilers, turbines, and chemical tank linings
• Fireproofing materials near reactors and furnaces
• Protective clothing for maintenance and lab workers

Even those not working directly with asbestos could have been exposed through ambient dust or take-home exposure on work uniforms.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Take-Home Exposure Was Common

Many PPG employees returned home covered in fine dust. Their spouses and children — just by doing laundry or hugging them after a shift — were unknowingly exposed. These secondhand exposures have tragically led to mesothelioma cases decades later.

⚖️ Still Time to File a Claim in WV

West Virginia allows you to file a lawsuit within two years of a mesothelioma diagnosis, not the exposure date. If your loved one worked at PPG Natrium and was later diagnosed, a PPG Natrium asbestos lawyer can help investigate, document the exposure, and pursue a claim.

👨‍⚖️ Why Work With Lee W. Davis?
• 35+ years of asbestos litigation experience
• Based near West Virginia with local site knowledge
• Handles all cases personally — no case farming
• Only paid if we win your case

📄 Learn More and Get Help

📥 Download the Take-Home Exposure Legal Guide


🔗 More about asbestos claims in West Virginia


📞 Call (412) 781-0525 or contact us online

Asbestos on Work Clothes: A Hidden Danger at Home

take-home asbestos exposure

Many families in Pennsylvania and West Virginia have been harmed by take-home asbestos exposure — without ever setting foot inside a plant or mill.

This happens when a worker brings asbestos dust home on their clothing, boots, tools, or car seats. Wives, children, and other family members breathe in the fibers during laundry, cleanup, or even simple hugs. Years later, that exposure can lead to mesothelioma, a deadly cancer with no cure.


How Take-Home Asbestos Exposure Happens

In the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, steelworkers, pipefitters, millwrights, electricians, and chemical plant employees worked around asbestos daily. They were never warned that asbestos was dangerous — or that it could hurt the people they loved.

Their spouses washed dusty work clothes without gloves or masks. Kids sat in the front seat of a car coated with invisible fibers. Over time, that dust found its way into the lungs of entire families.


Families at Risk

You may be at risk for take-home asbestos exposure if someone in your household worked at:

Even if your loved one has passed away, you may still be eligible to file a claim.


📥 

Download the Take-Home Asbestos Exposure Guide

This free guide explains how exposure happens, how it’s proven, and what legal rights families may have.


⚖️ Help Is Available

You don’t have to go through this alone. We’ve helped families across Pennsylvania and West Virginia understand their options.


📞 Free Consultation

If you or someone you love was diagnosed with mesothelioma after secondhand exposure, call (412) 781-0525 or contact us. You may still have time to act.

Moundsville’s Kammer Plant

Moundsville, West Virginia has always been a highly industrial area. For much of the 20th century, especially in the middle decades, plants seemingly sprang up everywhere and locals found employment and the American Dream in a place that was suitable for bringing up children and making a life that would be perhaps hard, but content.

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Cheswick Power Station a Toxic Disaster Area

Two huge smoke stacks loom over the town of Springdale, Pennsylvania, just a short distance from Pittsburgh. They’ve been there since 1970, when the coal-fired Cheswick Power Station was built and became part of the landscape of the town. Situated on 82-acres, the plant has long employed plenty of locals but it’s been a bone of contention for equally as long.

The plant, operated by Reliant Energy, produces enough energy to power about 400,000 area homes. But the plant has long emitted fly ash and other waste particles as well, which land on the properties within a few miles of those ominous smoke stacks.

Cheswick Power Station

Many fear that these emissions contain cancer-causing particles and some have even sued Reliant for its negligence, fearing for their health and that of their children. In particular, the emissions can irritate the respiratory system and induce asthma complications. This is especially serious for those who already have compromised respiratory systems and other medical problems.

Organizations like the Sierra Club maintain that there’s no doubt the air quality in Springdale has been affected by the presence of Cheswick Power Station, despite the installation of new scrubbers several years ago – technology that reduces emissions to what is deemed an acceptable level. However, residents don’t find the levels to be very acceptable.

Toxic emissions aren’t the only concerns at this coal-fired generating station. Other lawsuits surrounding Cheswick Power Station include those that allege dangerous asbestos exposure. When Cheswick Power Station was constructed in the late 1960s, asbestos use was still acceptable and power plants were some of the biggest users of materials that contained the toxic mineral.

Widespread Asbestos Usage

Asbestos-containing materials found in a power plant may have included insulation on pipes and electrical wires, gaskets, floor and ceiling tiles, asbestos cement, and more. Asbestos could even be found in some of the protective clothing used by workers at this and other power plants.

As a result, those who were employed at Cheswick during the first decade or so of its operations should be concerned as to whether or not they were exposed to the toxin and should remain on the lookout for symptoms of asbestos diseases, including:

• Persistent cough

• Shortness of breath

• Chest pain

• Chronic fatigue

• Weight loss

While these symptoms can be a sign of something less serious, they can also indicate mesothelioma cancer, a disease that has been diagnosed in many power plant workers throughout the country. Mesothelioma happens when sharp asbestos fibers become embedded in the area of the lungs, abdomen, or heart, causing tumors to form.

Once asbestos fibers are inhaled, they cannot be expelled. Not everyone who inhales asbestos develops cancer, but the risk is certainly present.

But there’s no need to suffer in silence. Those who’ve been sickened by employment at Cheswick Generation Station or any other coal-powered station in the Pittsburgh region need to take time to investigate their legal options. It is possible that victims can obtain compensation for their suffering but choosing the right attorney is essential.

That means selecting a lawyer who is familiar with the corporations in the region and who knows the particulars of power plant asbestos exposure. For more information on filing a successful lawsuit, schedule an appointment with a Pittsburgh mesothelioma attorney.

Smoking and Asbestos: An Unhappy Partnership

So, you’re a smoker. Millions of Americans are, even today, when all the risks associated with smoking are quite apparent. Maybe you enjoy lighting up during your breaks, at lunch time, or after a long day at the factory. Perhaps it’s a way to relax, a way to unwind after the stresses of a tedious and difficult work shift.

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The Toxic Homer City Generating Station

In the mid-20th century, coal-fired power stations were all the rage, especially in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, where coal mining has long been a major industry. Whereas other parts of the country may have been unfamiliar with such power plants, they became an everyday sight to those who reside in that area. The plants were touted as efficient and the companies that ran them employed hundreds of locals in a variety of different jobs. Many of them are still operating today.

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Former Pleasants Power Station Workers Sickened

Pleasants Power Station, Willow Island, West Virginia Law Offices of Lee W Davis, Esquire, LLC Mesothelioma and Asbestos Csncer
Pleasants Power Station, Willow Island, West Virginia Law Offices of Lee W Davis, Esquire, LLC Mesothelioma and Asbestos Csncer

Mention Pleasants Power Station to a long-time West Virginian and they’ll no doubt tell you about one of the greatest construction accidents in the history of the U.S. At this power station, located in western Pleasants County, West Virginia, 51 construction workers died when a cooling tower that was under construction collapsed on site in 1978. It was a dark time for the people of Pleasants County, many of them personally touched in some way or another by the tragedy.

Later, OSHA determined that a number of safety lapses at the site caused the tower and the attached scaffolding to collapse, including uncured concrete, missing bolts, an improper concrete hoisting system, and the fact that the job was being rushed. In all, these lapses spelled disaster for those who were working at the site.

This tragedy wasn’t the only Pleasants Power Station -related issue that has affected the residents of Pleasants County, West Virginia. Many have been sickened by the particulates released from this and other similar coal-fired power plants. In that fine particle pollution, you’ll find heavy metals, soot, sulfux dioxide, and a host of other toxins that can cause severe cases of respiratory and heart diseases.

Other Pleasants Power Station Diseases

Other respiratory diseases have resulted from workers’ exposure to asbestos while on the job. Working at a power plant of any kind comes with risks. Most employees – past and present – understand that. Many things can go wrong in an instant, with injury or even death as a result.

But Pleasants Power Station employees who worked there at a time when asbestos use was rampant had little or no idea that breathing in asbestos dust was eventually going to make them sick.

Asbestos enjoyed many uses at power plants throughout the U.S. until just before the 1980s, when government rules recommended the cessation of asbestos use. Employees may have found asbestos material wrapped around pipes or boilers. It may have been used in lagging, ropes, and a variety of textiles.

Workers may have even worn protective clothing that contained asbestos, designed as such to help workers avoid burns. Who would have known that this clothing, meant to keep workers safe, was making them sick?

Well, chances are that the powers-that-be at Willow Island and other West Virginia power companies may have very well known that asbestos was unsafe. However, because asbestos materials were often cheap and abundantly available, they were a favorite with plant owners. In short, more regard was given to the “bottom line” than to the safety of those who worked on site.

As a result, power plant workers from Pleasants Power Station and other area plants have died of mesothelioma or are currently suffering from the disease.

This exposure shouldn’t have happened but victims of the disease don’t need to deal with this situation on their own. Help is available in the form of legal options that may including filing a lawsuit against those who are responsible for the exposure. A consultation with a West Virginia mesothelioma lawyer can help you determine how to properly proceed and may spell some relief for victims of mesothelioma and their families.

 

Coal Mining Asbestos And Mesothelioma

In West Virginia and Pennsylvania, the coal mining industry has employed hundreds of thousands of individuals over the centuries. For many families, working in the mines has been a given, with one generation after another laboring in places where many of us would never dare to go. Coal mining is grueling work and, often, coal miners live short lives due to the risks associated with their jobs.

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Red Flags for Former Koppers Follansbee Plant Workers

Koppers Follansbee Plant – The tiny city of Follansbee, West Virginia, population about 3,000, is a humble place. With a median household income of only $30,000 per year, according to the 2010 census, it’s a place where people have historically worked hard for the little bit of money that they make.

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The Dangers of Friable Asbestos

There are a lot of misconceptions about asbestos, especially issues about when the material is dangerous and when it’s not. Generally, asbestos that is intact – not old or damaged in any way – is safe to be around. However, when the material becomes “friable” and is in poor condition, that’s when the concerns should begin.

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