Consolidated Edison (which is also known as Con Ed or Con Edison) is currently tasked with distributing natural gas to over a million people situated in the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, and Westchester counties. Con Edison also performs the invaluable service of providing electrical power to more than 3 million individuals as well as steam to New York City. Con Edison boards the world’s biggest system of underground cables, which extends almost 100,000 miles. Con Edison also has 36,000 miles of overhead wires.
The History of Con Edison
Con Edison started out as the New York Gas Light Company. Following the company’s inception in 1823, Con Edison was required to install gas lighting on the streets of Manhattan. Before its use of gas lighting, street lighting relied on lamps filled with whale oil.
A decade later, in 1883, the city council granted the Manhattan Gas Light Company the franchise to provide light for above the area around Grant Street and Canal Street.
This led to the gas light industry becoming fiercely competitive. Some of the companies involved in this industry include Metropolitan Gas Light Company, Hudson Gas Light, and Municipal Gas Light Company. The industry was so competitive at the start that one company would rip up the streets, remove mains from a rival, and install their own in their place. Physical fights even occurred among workers.
Following bitter fighting, in 1884, the six primary gas companies agreed to create the Consolidated Gas Company. Fortunately, other fights would soon follow. Thomas Edison in the late 1870s introduced the incandescent lightbulb, which soon became a preferred lighting option to gas lamps. In fact, gas companies soon shifted their daily operations to promoting gas for only heating and cooking.
Consolidated Gas started purchasing electrical companies as well as gas companies to diversify its ownership. One electric company was Edison Electric. During the 1920s, Consolidated widened its alternating current distribution and created the first over 340,000 volt-underground transmission lines. The line soon made it possible for electricity that was generated upstate to be used to power New York City.
As the years passed, Consolidated Gas continued acquiring gas, electric, and steam companies in the New York City and Westchester areas. In 1936, the company changed its name to what we all know it as today, Consolidated or Con Edison.
Asbestos-Containing Material and Con Edison
Con Edison constructed its empire during a time when asbestos was heavily used in the utility industry. Until the beginning of the 1970s, workers at Con Edison were not obligated to wear protective gear to protect from asbestos. Consequently, a large number of Con Edison workers were directly exposed to mesothelioma. One 1990 screening of over 500 Con Edison workers found that 20% incurred either scatter lungs or mesothelioma. Due to the several-decade-long latency period of mesothelioma, many Con Edison workers who were exposed to asbestos for decades are only now just beginning to discover that they were directly exposed to the harmful material.
Contact a Seasoned Asbestos Exposure Lawyer
If you or someone you loved has been exposed to asbestos, you should not hesitate to contact an experienced lawyer. Do not hesitate to contact the Throneberry Law Group today by calling (888) 506-1131 for assistance.
