About Burlington Generating Station Burlington Iowa

Corporate Operators

Burlington Generating Station sits on the western bank of the Mississippi River in Burlington, Iowa. It operated for decades as a coal-fired power plant serving southeastern Iowa. Corporate control passed through several entities:

  • Iowa Power and Light Company — early to mid-twentieth century operator
  • Interstate Power Company — successor operator
  • Alliant Energy Corporation — formed in 1998 through consolidation of IES Utilities, Interstate Power, and Wisconsin Power and Light; continues Iowa regulatory operations today through its Interstate Power Company subsidiary, regulated by the Iowa Utilities Commission

Coal-Fired Steam Generation: Why Asbestos-Containing Materials Were Used

Burlington operated through conventional coal-fired thermodynamic systems:

  • Coal combustion produced steam
  • High-pressure steam drove turbines
  • Turbines rotated generators to produce electricity
  • Condensers cooled exhaust steam and recycled it as feedwater

That process required operating temperatures exceeding 1,000°F and pressures measured in hundreds of pounds per square inch — conditions that demanded reliable thermal insulation. From approximately the 1930s through the late 1970s, asbestos-containing materials were the industry-standard insulation solution for high-temperature, high-pressure power plant systems. That pattern is documented at Iowa power generation facilities throughout that era. Workers performing insulation and maintenance work during those decades were typically given no warning of the health hazard those materials posed.

General Equipment at Burlington Generating Station Burlington Iowa

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

The records below are verified, state-documented asbestos removals at this facility. Each entry represents a regulated abatement project where the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (Iowa DNR) 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 Iowa DNR 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 ›

Who May Have Been Exposed at Burlington Generating Station Burlington Iowa

Asbestos exposure at Burlington Generating Station was not confined to one trade. Multiple occupational groups may have been exposed simultaneously, often in confined spaces where fiber concentrations could reach dangerous levels.

Iowa union locals whose members reportedly worked at Burlington Generating Station and at comparable Iowa power generation facilities include:

  • Asbestos Workers Local 12 (Iowa)
  • Pipefitters Local 33 (Des Moines area)
  • Boilermakers Local 83 (Iowa)
  • IBEW Local 347 (Burlington and southeastern Iowa)

Members of these locals and their families who have received asbestos-related diagnoses may have significant legal rights under Iowa law — but those rights expire. Iowa Code § 614.1(2) gives you two years from diagnosis to file. If you have been diagnosed, contact an Iowa asbestos cancer lawyer immediately.

Insulators (Heat and Frost Insulators) — Very High Exposure Risk

Members of the Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers — including members of Asbestos Workers Local 12 and affiliated Iowa locals who worked at power plants throughout the state — reportedly worked directly with asbestos-containing materials as a routine part of their daily work. High-exposure tasks allegedly included:

  • Cutting asbestos pipe covering with saws or knives
  • Mixing asbestos cement and applying it to surfaces
  • Fitting pre-formed insulation sections around irregular pipe configurations
  • Removing and replacing deteriorating asbestos insulation during maintenance cycles
  • Installing spray-applied asbestos fireproofing in facilities constructed before the early 1970s

These tasks allegedly generated substantial airborne asbestos fiber concentrations. Local 12 members who traveled from job to job across Iowa — including assignments at Burlington Generating Station, industrial facilities in the Cedar Rapids and Des Moines corridors, and other Iowa utilities — may have accumulated significant cumulative asbestos exposure across multiple worksites.

If you are a former Local 12 member diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease, Iowa’s two-year filing deadline under Iowa Code § 614.1(2) is running from the date of your diagnosis. Call an Iowa asbestos attorney before that window closes.

Pipefitters and Steamfitters — High Exposure Risk

Pipefitters and steamfitters — including members of Pipefitters Local 33 and affiliated Iowa locals who worked at Burlington Generating Station and comparable Iowa industrial facilities — may have been exposed during:

  • Pipe installation and repair work requiring removal of existing asbestos insulation
  • Valve maintenance and steam trap work involving asbestos rope packing and gasket materials
  • Cutting into insulated lines to access piping beneath asbestos covering
  • Handling asbestos rope packing and gasket materials from gaskets and packing, and other manufacturers

Local 33 members and other pipefitters who worked across multiple Iowa industrial sites may have exposure histories spanning several facilities. A multi-site exposure history can significantly strengthen a mesothelioma lawsuit in Iowa — but only if that claim is filed within the two-year statute of limitations.

Boilermakers — High Exposure Risk

Boilermakers — including members of Boilermakers Local 83 (Iowa) — who worked inside or immediately adjacent to boiler units at Burlington Generating Station may have been exposed during:

  • Boiler construction, repair, and inspection work
  • Replacement of asbestos refractory cement in boiler fireboxes
  • Handling asbestos rope and packing materials in valve assemblies
  • Work in enclosed boiler drums where prior insulation work had deposited residual fibers
  • Boiler tube cleaning and replacement

Local 83 members who traveled between Iowa power generation facilities, industrial plants, and other boiler-intensive worksites may have accumulated cumulative exposure directly relevant to their legal claims. Iowa’s two-year filing window begins at diagnosis and does not pause. If you have been diagnosed, consult an Iowa asbestos attorney now — not next month.

Electricians — Moderate to High Exposure Risk

Electricians — including members of IBEW Local 347 (Burlington and southeastern Iowa) who worked at Burlington Generating Station — may have been exposed to asbestos-containing materials through:

  • Electrical installation and maintenance work in proximity to insulated pipes, boilers, and ductwork covered with asbestos-containing materials
  • Handling asbestos-containing electrical insulation in switchgear and panel boards
  • Working in control rooms, cable trays, and conduit runs where asbes

Generating Unit Equipment — Public Registry

The following generating units are documented in the North American Electric Generating Plants database for this facility. This database is maintained by UDI/S&P Global and draws on federal EIA filings and state regulatory records.

Unit Year Capacity Fuel Boiler Type Boiler/Steam Sys Mfr Turbine Mfr Generator Mfr Steam Params Status
Burlington (Ia) 1 1968 212 MW Coal Tangent Ce Ge Ge 1800 PSI / 1000°F Operating
Burlington (Ia) Gt 1 1995 22.5 MW Gas N/A N/A Operating
Burlington (Ia) Gt 2 1995 22.5 MW Gas N/A N/A Operating

Source: UDI/S&P Global North American Electric Generating Plants database (NAMERICA 2025). Public reference data.

⚠️ Critical Filing Deadline

Iowa law gives mesothelioma and asbestos-disease victims 2 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal injury lawsuit (Iowa Code § 614.1(2A)). For wrongful death claims after an asbestos-related death, the filing window is 2 years from the date of death (Iowa Code § 614.1(2)). Miss either deadline by a single day and the right to file is permanently gone. No exceptions, no extensions.

About the two deadlines: Iowa keeps the personal-injury clock (Iowa Code § 614.1(2A)) and the wrongful-death clock (Iowa Code § 614.1(2)) on separate tracks. The 2 years personal-injury deadline runs from the date of diagnosis and applies to the diagnosed person's own claim while they are alive. The 2 years wrongful-death deadline runs from the date of death and applies to surviving family members. The two are independent — preserving one does not extend the other, and an asbestos attorney with experience in Iowa can keep both options open as the situation evolves.

The personal-injury clock runs from the date of medical diagnosis — not from the date of asbestos exposure. Mesothelioma can take 20 to 50 years to develop after exposure. Many workers are only now receiving diagnoses from exposures that occurred decades ago.

Treat the 2 years deadline as a hard outer limit, not a planning horizon.

⚠️ Why You Must Act Now

Iowa's filing window may sound like ample time. It is not. Every month that passes after a mesothelioma diagnosis is a month in which your case gets harder to build and your options narrow.

Witnesses Become Harder to Reach

The tradespeople who worked alongside mesothelioma victims at facilities of this era are now in their 70s and 80s. Witnesses from many years ago are harder and harder to contact by the day — coworkers who can testify about which asbestos-containing materials were used, who supplied them, and how the work was done are increasingly difficult to locate. Once first-hand testimony becomes unavailable, that record is gone.

Records Disappear

Employment records, union records, purchasing records, and product invoices that document exactly which asbestos-containing materials were used at this facility are being lost every year. Plants close. Corporate owners change. Storage facilities are cleared. Records that existed five years ago may not exist today.

Mesothelioma Cases Are Complex to Build

Identifying every responsible manufacturer and every jobsite across a tradesperson's career requires intensive investigation by experienced toxic-tort counsel. A case against the manufacturers who supplied asbestos-containing materials to this facility may involve dozens of defendants. That investigation takes time that waiting families do not have.

Asbestos Trust Fund Claims Run on a Separate Track

More than 60 asbestos bankruptcy trusts exist to compensate victims whose exposures came from manufacturers that have since gone bankrupt — including the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, established after the 1982 Johns-Manville bankruptcy. Each trust has its own claim forms, exposure criteria, documentation requirements, and processing timelines. Pursuing trust-fund compensation in parallel with a lawsuit takes months. The trust-fund process should start now, not after you decide whether to file suit.

What To Do Next

If you or a family member has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or another asbestos-related disease — and you worked at this facility, lived with someone who did, or worked at neighboring industrial sites in the corridor — the practical next steps are:

  1. Speak with an asbestos attorney with experience in Iowa. The first conversation is free, confidential, and creates no obligation. An experienced attorney will help you understand which trust-fund claims may apply, which civil claims are viable, and what documentation you should start gathering.
  2. Gather what you can about your work history. Pay stubs, W-2s, union cards, photographs, names of coworkers, and dates of employment all become important evidence. The WorkChain widget on this page can help you organize and email yourself a copy of your facility list.
  3. Preserve your medical records. Pathology reports, biopsy results, imaging, and pulmonary-function tests all become part of the legal record. Ask your treating physicians for full copies of everything in your chart.
  4. Identify household members who may also have been exposed. Spouses who laundered work clothing and children who hugged a parent returning from the plant are eligible for secondary-exposure claims when they have been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease.
  5. Act before the filing deadline runs. Iowa's statute of limitations is a hard outer limit. Even if you are still in the middle of treatment decisions, beginning the legal process early preserves your options.

Get a free case evaluation from an asbestos attorney with experience in Iowa →

Asbestos-Related Diseases

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 compensation 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

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.