About Iowa Power Des Moines Municipal Generating Des Moines Iowa
Iowa Power and Light’s Central Iowa Power Plant
The Des Moines Municipal Generating Station was one of central Iowa’s largest coal-fired steam generating facilities. Iowa Power and Light Company operated it for decades, supplying electricity to Des Moines and surrounding communities. The plant anchored Iowa’s electrical grid throughout much of the twentieth century and was a major employer in Polk County, drawing skilled tradespeople from across central Iowa.
Iowa Power and Light later merged into MidAmerican Energy. The plant went through multiple operational phases before eventual decommissioning and environmental remediation — the standard trajectory for aging coal-fired stations across the Midwest.
Why Asbestos-Containing Materials Were Standard at Power Plants
Coal-fired steam plants ran at extreme temperatures and pressures:
- Steam temperatures regularly exceeded 800°F
- High-pressure systems required heavy insulation to maintain efficiency and prevent catastrophic failure
- Thermal burn hazards created constant demand for heat-resistant materials at every stage of plant operation
Asbestos-containing materials solved all three problems cheaply and at scale. Power plants consumed them in enormous quantities across dozens of product types:
- Block insulation
- Pipe covering and wrapping
- Rope packing
- Gaskets and seals
- Insulating cement
- Canvas coverings
- Refractory materials
Industry procurement records, engineering manuals, and utility specifications from facilities across the country establish that asbestos-containing materials at plants like the Des Moines Municipal Generating Station were not exceptional — they were the baseline for every American coal-fired plant built between the 1920s and the late 1970s. Iowa Power and Light’s procurement practices during this era were consistent with those of comparable Iowa utilities and industrial employers statewide.
Workers at the Des Moines Municipal Generating Station may have been exposed to asbestos-containing materials from multiple major manufacturers. The products and suppliers below have been documented at coal-fired power plants of this type in Iowa and nationwide.
Corporation — Major Supplier to U.S. Power Plants
was one of the largest producers of asbestos-containing products in the United States and allegedly supplied utilities nationwide — including Iowa utilities — for decades. Products that may have been present at plants of this type include:
- Thermobestos® pipe covering — high-temperature insulation for steam and hot water lines
- Block insulation — molded asbestos-containing block used on large-diameter piping and boiler surfaces
- Asbestos-containing cement — used to seal joints, repair insulation surfaces, and coat irregular surfaces
- Asbestos rope and packing — used in valve stems, pump seals, and expansion joints
- Canvas coverings — asbestos-containing canvas applied over insulation for protection
’s internal documents — introduced in thousands of asbestos lawsuits nationwide, including cases brought in Iowa courts — show the company knew about asbestos hazards decades before it warned workers or the public. ultimately established the Personal Injury Settlement Trust**, one of the largest asbestos trusts in the country. Iowa claimants may file trust claims simultaneously with any Iowa court lawsuit. Trust assets are actively depleting — do not delay.
/ — calcium silicate pipe insulation® Calcium Silicate Insulation
(later related to ) manufactured calcium silicate pipe insulation®, a calcium silicate pipe insulation product that allegedly contained asbestos-containing fibers. calcium silicate pipe insulation moved through distribution networks to utilities and industrial facilities across the Midwest, including Iowa Power and Light facilities and comparable Iowa industrial employers.
Workers at this facility may have been exposed to asbestos-containing materials when calcium silicate pipe insulation insulation was cut, sawed, broken during removal, or disturbed during system modifications — all tasks that generated respirable dust in enclosed boiler rooms and pipe chases.
Internal documents produced in litigation — including cases filed in Iowa — show the company had knowledge of asbestos hazards associated with calcium silicate pipe insulation but did not adequately warn workers. The / Asbestos Personal Injury Trust** is among the trusts from which Iowa claimants may seek compensation. Because trust payouts decline as claims accumulate, filing promptly preserves the maximum potential recovery.
— Boiler Manufacturer and Supplier
(CE) manufactured industrial boilers and boiler components for coal-fired power plants across the country. Boilers manufactured or supplied by may have contained asbestos-containing materials including:
- Boiler block insulation — applied to boiler exteriors and drum surfaces
- Refractory and fireside insulation materials — used in high-heat combustion zones
- Insulating cement — used during installation and repair
- Asbestos-containing coatings — applied during original manufacturing
’s successor entities have faced extensive asbestos litigation nationwide, including claims brought by Iowa workers. Iowa members of Boilermakers Local 83 — whose jurisdiction covered major generating facilities in the state — may have worked on CE boilers at multiple Iowa Power and Light sites, including the Des Moines Municipal Generating Station.
— Pipe Covering and Block Insulation
(formerly Armstrong Cork) supplied asbestos-containing insulation products to U.S. power plants and industrial facilities throughout the Midwest. Products that may have been present at this facility include:
- Asbestos-containing pipe covering and wrapping materials
- Block insulation for boiler and steam system applications
- Asbestos-containing insulating cement
- Canvas coverings for insulation protection
Armstrong products have been documented at Iowa industrial facilities comparable to the Des Moines Municipal Generating Station, including plants in Cedar Rapids and Sioux City.
gaskets and packing — Gaskets and Packing Materials
gaskets and packing Inc. (now gaskets and packing) manufactured asbestos-containing gaskets, packing materials, and seals used in valve stems, pump seals, and flanged connections throughout power plants. Workers may have been exposed to asbestos-containing materials from gaskets and packing when removing, handling, or replacing gasket and packing components — tasks that required cutting, scraping, and wire-brushing that generated fine respirable dust. Members of Pipefitters Local 33 — which represented pipefitters and steamfitters at central Iowa industrial facilities — may have routinely handled gaskets and packing asbestos-containing products during the course of their work at this and comparable Iowa facilities.
— Valves with Asbestos-Containing Components
supplied valves to power plants throughout the United States, including Iowa utilities. Valves from Crane may have contained asbestos-containing packing materials, stem packing, and gaskets. Workers who performed valve maintenance and repair may have been exposed to asbestos-containing materials when disassembling or servicing Crane valves — particularly during hot-work shutdowns when large numbers of valves were opened, repacked, and reassembled simultaneously.
Industries —
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General Equipment at Iowa Power Des Moines Municipal Generating Des Moines 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.
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:
⚠️ 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
- EPA ECHO Facility Compliance Database — enforcement and compliance records for industrial facilities
- OSHA Establishment Search — federal workplace inspection history
- EIA Form 860 Plant Data — power-plant equipment and ownership records (where applicable)
- Iowa Department of Natural Resources NESHAP asbestos abatement notification records
- Published asbestos trial and trust fund records (publicly filed court documents)
- AsbestosIndex Product & Manufacturer Crosswalk — historical asbestos-containing product schedules linked to manufacturers
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.