About CML&P Generating Facility No. 2

Based on documented patterns at comparable municipal and cooperative power generation facilities in Kansas and the Midwest, asbestos-containing materials may have been present at generating stations like CML&P Generating Facility No. 2 across several distinct operational phases.

Construction and Initial Commissioning (1930s–1950s)

During original construction, asbestos-containing materials were incorporated as standard practice. Materials that may have been present at this facility include:

  • Boiler insulation (potentially calcium silicate pipe insulation or pipe insulation products, supplied through regional distribution networks)
  • Pipe covering and thermal insulation systems
  • Turbine and generator insulation blankets
  • Pump packing materials (potentially or gaskets and packing)
  • Gaskets and sealing materials (potentially gaskets and packing or similar products)
  • Expansion joints and vibration isolation systems
  • Fireproofing materials (potentially Armstrong spray-applied fireproofing or similar spray-applied products)

Asbestos concentrations in these materials reportedly ranged from 15% to more than 90% by weight.

Construction crews at Kansas utility facilities in this era reportedly included tradespeople dispatched from regional union halls. Members of the Boilermakers and the Heat and Frost Insulators may have performed boiler installation and insulation work at facilities like this one, potentially bringing with them the same asbestos-containing materials and practices documented at comparable regional generating stations elsewhere in Kansas and the surrounding region.

Major Expansions and Capacity Upgrades (1940s–1960s)

Kansas communities grew rapidly after World War II. Generating facilities expanded to meet demand, adding boilers, turbines, condensers, and piping. Each expansion may have required fresh installation of asbestos-containing materials, and workers affiliated with the Heat and Frost Insulators who performed this work reportedly had no knowledge of the health risks they faced.

Materials used in these expansions may have included:

  • Thermobestos block insulation
  • pipe insulation
  • ceiling tile Gold Bond insulation systems
  • boiler assembly and refurbishment products

The same union contractors who reportedly worked expansion projects at other industrial facilities — including regional chemical operations near Wichita and regional steel and heavy manufacturing operations along the Kansas industrial corridor — also performed outage and expansion work at comparable utility facilities throughout the region, including elsewhere in Kansas. Workers who can document employment at multiple sites along this corridor may pursue claims arising from cumulative asbestos exposure in Kansas across facilities and states.

Ongoing Maintenance and Repair (1940s–1980s)

Routine maintenance was likely the most consistent source of ongoing asbestos exposure at facilities like this one. Maintenance tasks that may have disturbed asbestos-containing materials included:

  • Removing and replacing boiler insulation
  • Changing gaskets and packing during valve and pump overhauls, potentially using products from gaskets and packing, Superex, or
  • Disturbing turbine insulation for inspection and repair
  • Servicing pumps, compressors, and turbines with asbestos-containing sealing materials
  • Removing and replacing boiler refractory, potentially involving asbestos-containing castable materials

Workers who performed these tasks — and workers in the vicinity when this work occurred — may have been repeatedly exposed to asbestos fibers released from disturbed materials throughout their careers. UA Pipefitters and plumbers who worked at this facility may have sustained substantial cumulative exposure through gasket and packing work using asbestos-containing products from gaskets and packing, and

A mesothelioma diagnosis changes everything — your prognosis, your finances, your family’s future. If that diagnosis connects to decades of work in a power plant boiler room, you are not facing this alone, and you are not without options.

Workers at power generation facilities may have been exposed to asbestos-containing materials built into the plant’s infrastructure long before they ever set foot on the job site. The diseases that result — mesothelioma, asbestosis, asbestos-related lung cancer — can take 20 to 50 years to emerge. That means workers who spent their careers at facilities like CML&P Generating Facility No. 2 are receiving diagnoses right now.

This article explains what conditions reportedly existed at this facility, which workers faced the greatest risk, what diseases are now emerging, and how to pursue a legal claim through asbestos litigation or trust fund claims — including through an asbestos attorney in Wichita or elsewhere in Kansas.

Kansas-based workers may have legal claims under Kansas law. Workers who also labored at facilities in neighboring states — particularly along the regional industrial corridor connecting the Kansas City metropolitan area with Wichita and the surrounding region — may have additional legal options worth exploring. Kansas courts and trust fund recoveries have historically produced legal recourse for workers with documented multi-state industrial employment histories.

General Equipment at CML&P Generating Facility No. 2

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.

Boilers View crosswalk › Steam Turbines View crosswalk › Steam Traps View crosswalk › Condensers View crosswalk › Feedwater Heaters View crosswalk › Cooling Towers View crosswalk › Pipe Insulation View crosswalk › Block Insulation View crosswalk › Refractory Lining View crosswalk › Valves View crosswalk › Gaskets View crosswalk › Pumps View crosswalk ›

Documented Asbestos Evidence — Kansas

The records below are verified, state-documented asbestos removals at this facility. Each entry represents a regulated abatement project where the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) 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.

No KDHE NESHAP abatement notifications have been identified for this facility in current public records. Per the framing above, absence of state-agency documentation should not be read as absence of asbestos — only as absence of a formal, regulated abatement event meeting reporting thresholds. Workers who recall encountering pipe insulation, block insulation, gaskets, or other asbestos-era construction materials at this facility may still have viable claims regardless of whether a state record exists.

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:

Thermal System Insulation View crosswalk › Asbestos-Cement Board View crosswalk › Pipe Insulation View crosswalk › Roofing & Flashing View crosswalk › Spray Fireproofing View crosswalk › Floor Tile & Mastic View crosswalk › Ceiling Tile View crosswalk › Gaskets & Packing View crosswalk ›
Kansas — Filing Deadline & Next Steps

Kansas law gives mesothelioma and asbestos-disease claimants 2 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury lawsuit (K.S.A. § 60-513). For wrongful-death claims after an asbestos-related death, the filing window is 2 years from the date of death (K.S.A. § 60-1903). 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

  1. 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.
  2. Preserve medical records. Pathology reports, biopsy results, imaging, and pulmonary-function tests are central to both civil claims and trust-fund filings.
  3. 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.
  4. Speak with an asbestos attorney with Kansas 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 — Kansas

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 a claim 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 — Kansas

Information about facility equipment, industrial materials, and occupational records referenced on this page is drawn from publicly available sources where applicable, including:

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.