Asbestos In Your Area

Asbestos in the State of Oregon

Asbestos Exposure in Oregon

Oregon, due to its location in the Pacific Northwest, has long been connected to the sea-faring activities. With countless residents employed by the nearby and numerous shipbuilding industries, Oregon has a fairly high incidence of asbestos related diseases due to the asbestos materials utilized in these plants and facilities by local workers. Inhabitants who worked on the many ships sailing out of Oregon and into the Pacific Rim, were also placed in grave danger while onboard ships. Asbestos was widely used throughout those ships to minimize the chance of fire. It was especially copious and most dangerous below decks, due to its high concentration in a confined space. Since this is where sailors spent much of their time, they breathed in great amounts of the asbestos fibers, which may have remained in their lungs for up to 50 years, eventually causing lung disease, asbestosis, and often, malignant mesothelioma. In additions to chemical plants and oil refineries, Oregon was also under attack from asbestos exposure stemming from the processing of vermiculite from Libby, Montana. In Multnomah County, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry requested an evaluation of asbestos containment to ascertain whether the public health was at risk. It was concluded that employees of the processing plant in Oregon had been exposed to significant levels of exposure of asbestos.

At-Risk Occupations and Locations in Oregon

Oregon is home to many chemical plants: Borden (Springfield), Chevron Chemical Fertilizer Plant, (Deer Island), Chipman, Rhone-Poulenc and Stouffer. These plants relied on asbestos for protection against heat and flame, potentially lethal threats in a chemical factory. Due to their unique needs, chemical plants frequently chose brown or blue asbestos, which were more corrosive-resistant and therefore better for their applications. However, this is the most deadly type of asbestos, as its rigid composition allows it to burrow through lung tissue, and thus affecting DNA on a cellular level and becoming cancerous. The Portland Shell Oil Refinery also posed grave danger, representative of other such oil refining plants, by exposing a high degree of asbestos to workers. This was due to the rampant use of asbestos in refineries to keep the petrochemicals contained and fire hazards at a minimum. Other businesses around the Portland-Multnomah County area were equally dangerous, but so were facilities in Bend, Eugene, Hood River, Klamath Falls, McMinnville, Medford, Salem, and St. Helens. These included Portland Gas and Coke, Hercules Power Company, and the Georgia-Pacific Resin Plant (Albany). Oregon shipyards included Albina, Astoria Voyage Repair Station, Commercial Iron & Steel, Dyer Shipyard, Floating Marine Ways, Gunderson, Kaiser, Northwest Marine Ironworks, Portland Ship Repair, South Portland, Swan Island, Willamette Iron & Steel, and Tongue Point Naval. All locations placed workers at risk due to the hazardous properties of the asbestos material relied upon during daily activities.

Asbestos-related Deaths in Oregon

From 1980-2000, Oregon suffered 862 deaths due to asbestos disease, evenly divided between asbestosis and mesothelioma. This statistic is somewhat unique, since many states' mesothelioma fatalities outnumber those from asbestosis. (Asbestosis may be stabilized if caught early enough, where mesothelioma is considered terminal if diagnosis is delayed.) Therefore, Oregon is ranked 22 in the U.S. for mesothelioma cases, but with a crude mortality rank of 26 in the country.

Legal Resources for Oregon Residents

Oregon's statute of limitations for personal injury law is two years from when the problem is discovered, or should have been discovered, and wrongful death cases carry a three-year statute of limitations.

There have been two lawsuits since 2006 and 2007 in the Oregon courts regarding asbestos exposure: Dillon v. 3M Company, and Burkholder v. Asbestos Claims Management Corporation. Prior to these, a major Oregon asbestos case was Nagl v. Dowman Products Inc., in which the jury determined award to the plaintiff of more than $659,000 for exposure while installing floors. His case revolved around Dowman Fix-All patching compound, which contained asbestos, as well as other products the plaintiff was required to use, such as floor leveling and joint compounds, sheet flooring, and vinyl asbestos floor tile. Unfortunately, five months after the trial, Mr. Nagl suffered a fatality from malignant mesothelioma. Eight years ago, in the case of Robert Bush v. Kaiser Gypsum, Mr. Bush had been exposed to asbestos-containing building materials while working in Portland and consequently developed lung disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

As recently as October, 2007, two Oregon property rehabilitation companies were fined $37,000 for violations of the asbestos National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants. This occurred in 2001, when Cook Development Corporation and Birch Creek Construction failed to properly remove and dispose of asbestos during renovation of Commodore Apartments in The Dalles, Oregon. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice became involved under the Clean Air Act. The contractors also failed to wet the asbestos before stripping (to reduce wafting into air currents), and failed to place the asbestos into airtight sealed containers. Even worse, they proceeded to dump it into land-fill, displaying gross negligence and disregard for the public health and welfare.

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