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Pacific Gas & Electric

The Pacific Gas and Electric Company supplies the majority of northern California with electricity and natural gas. The company was founded in 1905 and currently has headquarters in San Francisco.

History of Pacific Gas & Electric

Pacific Gas and Electric was incorporated on October 10, 1905. The company was a consolidation of more than two dozen utility companies, including the San Francisco Gas and Electric Company, the Equitable Gas Light Company, the Independent Electric Light and Power, and the Independent Gas and Power Company.

Over the next several decades, the company supplied an ever-expanding customer base with electricity and gas, and expanded its facilities considerably in the post-World War II boom, adding fourteen hydroelectric plants and five steam plants. The company continued to expand over the next several decades, eventually holding 173 electricity generating units and 85 generating stations.

Partly as a result of critical power shortages, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001, and emerged in 2004 after paying more than $10 billion to hundreds of its creditors. Currently, Pacific Gas & Electric owns hydroelectric, nuclear, fossil fuel, and solar generating facilities.

Over the years Pacific Gas & Electric has come under fire for its less-than-stellar environmental record. In 1993, the company was accused of contaminating the drinking water of an entire town-Hinkley, California-with a toxic chemical called hexavalent chromium. The resulting legal case resulted in an initial $333 million settlement, followed by two more groups of hexavalent chromium-related cases settled to the valued of $295 million and $20 million.

Asbestos Use at Pacific Gas & Electric

In addition to its hexavalent chromium problems, Pacific Gas & Electric has also been a defendant in many asbestos-related lawsuits, due to the widespread industrial use of the substance prior to the 1980s.

Pacific Gas & Electric have never used asbestos in manufacturing, but the toxic mineral was widely used in electricity-generating facilities, due to its excellence as a thermal and electrical insulator and fire retardant.

Many mechanical components used inside power generation facilities contained asbestos, or were sprayed with asbestos-containing cement products such as Monokote. This is particularly true of facilities built between the 1940s and 1980s.

Asbestos-containing insulation was used extensively throughout such facilities to reduce fire risks, and asbestos was used in gaskets, flooring, paint, around boilers and furnaces, and in fact in any location where protection from heat, or insulation was required.

For a variety of reasons, the presence of airborne asbestos fibers inside power generation plants is not uncommon. In particular, as these facilities age, asbestos fibers are more likely to be released into the air, as asbestos-containing materials deteriorate and crumble over time.

This means that people working in such plants-especially maintenance and custodial workers-may still be at risk of asbestos exposure. For the last two decades many power companies have been carrying out asbestos abatement procedures to reduce the exposure risk, but in the meantime it's important to take precautions (including the use of a respirator and protective clothing) in any situation where asbestos exposure might occur.

What Former and Current Workers should Know about Asbestos

If you work in a Pacific Gas & Electric Facility, or any other power generation facility, it's important to understand the potential dangers of asbestos exposure. The most important thing to know is that asbestos exposure is a health risk because inhalation of asbestos dust and fibers can cause serious diseases, including cancer.

One of the most common asbestos-related diseases is a chronic lung condition called asbestosis. This disease is generally caused by long-term or repeated exposure to inhalable fibers. Inhalation of asbestos causes chronic lung inflammation, and this eventually leads to the development of scar tissue that is not able to properly expand or absorb oxygen the way health lung tissue can. For this reason people with asbestosis experience pain and difficulty breathing, and have reduced lung function. The disease's progression can be halted if asbestos exposure ceases, but the lung damage is irreversible.

Mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer that is caused by asbestos exposure. There are actually four types of mesothelioma, each of which develop in different locations in the body-the lining of the lungs, heart, abdominal cavity, or testicles. All of these cancers are difficult to diagnose and treat, and people diagnosed with the disease have a poor prognosis.

Another important thing to know about mesothelioma is that it has a long latency period. Between two and five decades usually elapse between asbestos exposure and the onset of noticeable disease symptoms. For this reason, if you work in a facility where asbestos exposure may have occurred, it's important to know about the potential risks even if the exposure occurred several decades ago.

If you suspect you may have been exposed to asbestos, protect your health by getting regular check-ups to screen for early disease symptoms. In the event that you are diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease, you may be able to work with a mesothelioma lawyer to obtain compensation for medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering.

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