Utah

UTAH MESOTHELIOMA LAWYERS

Skier at Snowbird, UT

Utah was the 45th state admitted to the union. Its population is approximately 2.8 million. People mostly live along the Wasatch Front in the Salt Lake City area. Utah is a mountainous state and mining is one of the major industries. Minerals that are mined in Utah include copper, gold, silver, zinc, lead and brilliam. Also, Utah is a site of other minerals, such as Gilsonite, which is mined in Bonanza, Utah, the only such mine in the world. Surprisingly, these mine sites and the smelting plants that refine the ore are important sites of asbestos exposure to the miners and plant workers.

OCCUPATIONS AT RISK

Below is a list of occupations that put Utah workers at a known risk of asbestos exposure. If you worked in one of these occupations in the 1980s or earlier, there is a good chance that you were exposed to asbestos:

  • Aircraft mechanics & Repairmen
  • Automobile mechanics
  • Boilermakers
  • Chemical Plant Workers
  • Construction Workers
  • Electricians
  • Foundry Workers
  • Industrial Plant Workers
  • Insulators
  • Miners
  • Oil Refinery Workers
  • Pipefitters
  • Plasterers
  • Power Plant Workers
  • Railroad Workers
  • Sheetmetal Workers
  • Smelting Plant Workers
  • U.S. Navy Veterans

JOBSITES WITH KNOWN ASBESTOS EXPOSURES

The following is a list of some of the Utah jobsites where there is documented use of asbestos products. If you or a family member worked at one of these places, you may be at a heightened risk of asbestos disease.

If you believe that you may have been exposed to asbestos at your own job, please contact a mesothelioma attorney for more information. There are many other jobsites in Utah where asbestos was used.

Mines and Smelting Plants

  • American Gilsonite Mine, Bonanza
  • International Smelting and Refining Company, Toole (aka Anaconda Smelting & Refining Company)
  • American Smelting and Refinery Plant, Garfield (aka Kennecott Copper Corp.)

Railroad

  • Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, Provo
  • Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad Co., Lyndyll
  • Oregon Short Line Railroad, Salt Lake City
  • Oregon Short Line Railroad Co., Ogden
  • Oregon Short Line Railroad Co., Salt Lake City

Various Plants

  • Intermountain Power Plant, Delta
  • Lewiston Sugar Co., Richmond
  • Lewiston Sugar Co., Lewiston
  • Ogden Sugar Co., Ogden
  • Salt Lake Chemical Co., Burmeister
  • Utah and Idaho Sugar Co., West Jordan
  • Utah and Idaho Sugar Co., Brigham City

Oil Refineries

  • North Salt Lake Refinery, Big West Oil
  • Salt Lake City Refinery, Chevron
  • Salt Lake City Refinery, Tesoro
  • Woods Cross Refinery, Holly Corporation
  • Woods Cross Refinery, Silver Eagle Refining

Other jobsites

  • Anaconda Company
  • Hercules Powder Co.
  • Industrial Supply Co.
  • Kaiser Engineers
  • Kennecott Copper Corp.
  • Morris P. Kirk & Sons Inc.
  • Tooele Army Depot

MESOTHELIOMA IN UTAH

The high levels of asbestos used in Utah industries have taken their toll on the health of Utah workers, who have a high rate of mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a deadly cancer of the lining of the lungs and abdomen, which is caused by asbestos exposure.

Like other asbestos disease, mesothelioma has a long latency period. This means that a person usually develops mesothelioma long after the initial exposure to asbestos — usually between 10 and 50 years later. Due to this latency period, the number of Utah mesothelioma deaths continues to rise even though asbestos is seldom used in Utah today.

According to the Environmental Working Group, Utah has the 37 highest rate of asbestos disease in the country as of 2002. Between 1979 and 2001, at least 211 people from Utah died of mesothelioma or asbestosis, with the highest concentrations in Salt Lake County and Utah County.

UTAH MESOTHELIOMA LAWYER

As a result, workers in all these industries were exposed to significant amounts of asbestos dust until the mid to late 1970s and sometimes into the 1980s. If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma and you believe you were exposed to asbestos in Utah, please contact one of our mesothelioma lawyers. We can help you investigate the source of your exposure, and determine what companies were responsible.