Asbestos in New Hampshire

Occupations and Environmental Areas at Risk

Textile mills, naval yards and power plants were major asbestos hotspots in New Hampshire. Shipyards were built with asbestos and the fibers were frequently used in military operations. Power plants used asbestos to insulate their pipes and fireproof their boilers. And textile factories used asbestos in a variety of applications; the mineral was woven into fabrics for consumer goods and it was used as insulation in the mills.

New Hampshire's Textile Industry

New Hampshire's thriving textile industry used asbestos to insulate the fabric-weaving machinery. Additionally, many of New Hampshire’s mills actually wove protective garments from asbestos since its lightweight nature made it a popular choice for items such as oven mitts and racecar gear. As textile mill workers spun asbestos threads into fabric or operated and repaired standard mill machinery, they ran the risk of releasing the fibers into the air where they were easily inhaled. Additionally, these mills were often poorly ventilated, so airborne asbestos circulated around the breathing spaces for extended periods of time.

Textile mills were also commonly built with insulating asbestos in the walls, tiles and flooring. When these textile mills were shut down, thousands of cubic tons of asbestos-tainted waste products were left behind. These were often dumped into rivers or given away as free landfill to local property owners, putting many people who never worked at textile plants at risk for developing mesothelioma.

New Hampshire Power Plants

In the 1970s, Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH), responsible for providing electrical service to 500,000 households, retrofitted the old Manchester Steam Plant and turned it into a coal-fired power plant called the Merrimack Power Plant. Combustion turbines generate a lot of heat and asbestos was used to insulate them. The older building in which the Merrimack Power Plant was housed had also made liberal use of asbestos as a construction material.

PSNH opened other power generating facilities as well including Seabrook Station, a nuclear power plant. Building commenced in 1976 when asbestos was still commonly used as an insulation material. As a result, many of the operators and repairmen who serviced the nuclear plant may have been exposed to asbestos.

Johns Manville Nashua Manufacturing Plant

Johns-Manville Corporation, one of the nation's largest producers of insulation and roofing, operated a plant in a heavily populated area of Nashua, New Hampshire. The four acre facility included two separate plants that began producing asbestos tiles and asbestos plates in 1900. The facility was shut down and sold in 1985, but until then, the company exposed its employers to asbestos fibers at the plants. Waste from the Nashua plant was distributed to local property owners, who used the asbestos remnants in their homes and communities.

Although the site is now closed, trespassing has been a significant issue throughout the 1990s, which prompted the city of Nashua to evaluate the condition of the decrepit buildings. After determining that significant amounts of asbestos still remained in the former Johns-Manville facility, the site was condemned by the Environmental Protection Agency in April 1995 and demolished in September 1996.

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

Although Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is actually located in Maine, the facility is located across the river from the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The shipyard employed many residents of New Hampshire, who were responsible for building and repairing U.S. Navy Vessels from the early 1800s. Shipyards were one of the most high-risk locations for asbestos exposure in the twentieth century, where asbestos-containing materials were commonly used as insulation for the boats and shipbuilding machinery.

In 1993, the site, which encompassed 376 buildings over 278 acres, was found to contain asbestos insulation among other contaminants. More than 30 acres of Portsmouth Naval Yard property was storing hazardous waste. The final stages of cleanup efforts were completed in 2003.

Other Exposure Sites in New Hampshire

A.C. Lawrence Leather and Davidson Property were both named asbestos-contaminated Superfund sites by the EPA. Cleanup measures for both of these sites were completed in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

Several other industrial facilities in New Hampshire have been found to be home to asbestos. Recent investigations have revealed the fibers in the following buildings:

• Holman Athletic Stadium & surrounding land
• Majestic Heights (residential development)
• New England Telephone Company
• New Hampshire Plating Company
• Suncook Village Residential Community