Why Colorado Industrial Workers Faced Documented Asbestos Exposure

Colorado’s industrial base — anchored by power generation, military aerospace, railroad operations, steel manufacturing, smelting, and industrial processing — created sustained occupational asbestos exposure for tens of thousands of workers across the twentieth century. Asbestos-containing insulation, gaskets, refractory materials, and friction products were standard at every major Colorado facility through the 1980s.

The Heat & Frost Insulators Local 39, serving all of Colorado, placed members at virtually every major power plant, military installation, and industrial facility in the state. Local 39 insulators — applying pipe covering, block insulation, refractory linings, and spray-on fireproofing — experienced some of the most-documented asbestos exposure of any occupational group in Colorado’s industrial history.

Documented Colorado Industrial Exposure Regions

  • Denver metropolitan area — ASARCO Globe Smelter, Xcel Energy generating stations, Coors Porcelain, railroad shops, and manufacturing plants across Adams, Arapahoe, and Denver counties
  • Pueblo — CF&I Steel (Colorado Fuel and Iron) integrated steelworks, Colorado’s largest industrial employer for much of the twentieth century
  • Jefferson County — Rocky Flats Plant (DOE nuclear weapons facility, operated by Dow Chemical and Rockwell International), Coors Porcelain Golden operations
  • Colorado Springs / El Paso County — Pueblo Chemical Depot, Fort Carson military installations, utility power generation
  • Western Slope — Climax Molybdenum Mine (Lake County), ASARCO smelting operations, uranium processing facilities in Mesa and Garfield counties

Major Colorado Power Generation Facilities

Colorado’s electric utility infrastructure includes several large generating stations with documented industrial-era asbestos use in insulation, refractory, and gasket applications. Major Colorado power facilities with documented asbestos histories include:

  • Cherokee Generating Station (Adams County) — Xcel Energy coal-fired plant
  • Comanche Generating Station (Pueblo County) — Xcel Energy coal-fired plant near the CF&I Steel complex
  • Hayden Station (Routt County) — Tri-State Generation coal-fired plant
  • Craig Station (Moffat County) — Tri-State Generation coal-fired plant
  • Pawnee Power Plant (Weld County) — Xcel Energy coal-fired plant

Insulators, pipefitters, boilermakers, and other trades who worked outage and routine maintenance at these facilities through the asbestos era (roughly 1960s through the early 1980s) handled extensive asbestos-containing pipe insulation, block insulation, refractory linings, and gaskets manufactured by Owens Illinois, Owens Corning, Johns Manville, Pittsburgh Corning, A.P. Green, Harbison-Walker, and others.

Military and Aerospace Installations

Rocky Flats Plant (Jefferson County) — operated by Dow Chemical (1952–1975) and Rockwell International (1975–1989) for the U.S. Department of Energy as a nuclear weapons manufacturing facility. Plaintiffs alleged that construction and maintenance workers at Rocky Flats encountered asbestos-containing materials in building insulation, fireproofing, and mechanical systems throughout the plant’s operating history.

Lowry Air Force Base (Denver/Aurora) — a major Air Force installation with continuous facility maintenance, training operations, and aircraft maintenance spanning the entire asbestos era.

Fort Carson (El Paso County) — Army installation with substantial construction and maintenance activity throughout the asbestos era.

Steel and Smelting Operations

CF&I Steel / Colorado Fuel and Iron (Pueblo) — the largest integrated steel plant in the American West, employing thousands of workers in steelmaking, rolling, and pipe manufacturing operations from 1881 through successive ownership changes to the present. Plaintiffs alleged extensive asbestos use in blast furnace insulation, refractory, steam systems, and gasket applications.

ASARCO Globe Smelter (Denver) — copper and lead smelting from 1901 to 1985. Plaintiffs alleged asbestos exposure through furnace refractory, high-temperature process piping insulation, and protective equipment used in smelting operations.

Railroad Operations

Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) maintained extensive Colorado rail operations. Colorado served as a critical transcontinental rail corridor, with locomotive shops, roundhouses, and maintenance facilities in Denver, Pueblo, and along major rail lines. Plaintiffs alleged FELA-based asbestos exposure through brake-shoe dust, locomotive insulation, and steam piping in shop facilities.

Heat & Frost Insulators Local 39

Heat & Frost Insulators Local 39 holds jurisdiction over Colorado. Local 39 members were dispatched to every major industrial asbestos workplace in the state for decades. The Local’s dispatch records — typically obtained from the business office for purposes of documenting career exposure history — are foundational evidence in asbestos cases involving Colorado workers.

For trade-specific exposure pathways and Local 39 details, see the Heat & Frost Insulators trade archive.

Cross-state Exposure — Many Colorado Workers Spent Careers Elsewhere

Colorado workers did not stop working at the state line. Workers commonly held union cards covering work in Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, and other Mountain West states. Colorado plaintiffs frequently have exposure histories that include facilities in neighboring states.

For state-specific legal resources and jobsite catalogs in neighboring states, see the Industrial Exposure Archive cross-state hub.

If You or a Family Member Worked at a Colorado Industrial Facility

You may have documented asbestos exposure under Colorado’s two-year statute of limitations (C.R.S. § 13-80-102). Filing deadlines run from the date of medical diagnosis under Colorado’s discovery rule.

Free, confidential case review with an attorney experienced in asbestos cases:

(314) 237-3332 — O’Brien Law Firm

All consultations are free. No fee unless a financial recovery is made on your behalf. Out-of-state cases involving Colorado exposure are routinely filed in venues where the defendant employer has a substantial nexus — including, for many corporate defendants, the St. Louis venue where the firm is located.