By Michael Throneberry, founder of Throneberry Law Group
Mesothelioma almost always traces back to a job. The asbestos was in the boilers, furnaces, pipes, and machines that people worked around every day, often decades before anyone got sick.
This page lists the workplaces and types of job sites we have written about. Each page explains how asbestos was used at that site, which jobs carried the most risk, and what options workers and their families may have now. If you or someone you love worked at one of these places and has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, start there.
Northern and Central Illinois Workplaces
Waukegan and Lake County
- Johns-Manville Plant, Waukegan: one of the largest asbestos-products factories in the country, on the Waukegan lakefront for most of the twentieth century.
- Waukegan Generating Station: a coal-fired power plant whose boilers, turbines, and steam lines were packed with asbestos insulation.
- U.S. Steel and American Steel & Wire, Waukegan: a steel and wire works where furnaces and machinery were insulated with asbestos.
For help with a claim in this area, see our Waukegan mesothelioma lawyer page.
Peoria Area
- Caterpillar Plants, Peoria Area: engine plants, foundries, and buildings that used asbestos in both the equipment and the facilities.
- Keystone Steel & Wire, Bartonville: a steel mill, wire works, and coke plant just southwest of Peoria, with asbestos throughout.
- Hiram Walker Distillery, Peoria: one of the largest distilleries in the world, where boilers and steam systems ran on asbestos insulation.
For help with a claim in this area, see our Peoria mesothelioma lawyer page.
Rockford
- Sundstrand, Rockford: aerospace and hydraulic parts plants whose machine shops, foundries, and heat-treating lines used asbestos.
For help with a claim in this area, see our Rockford mesothelioma lawyer page.
Rantoul
- Chanute Air Force Base, Rantoul: one of the country’s first air bases, open from 1917 to 1993. Veterans exposed there may have VA benefits as well as legal claims.
Worked in Chicago or the suburbs? See our list of Chicago asbestos exposure sites and our Illinois mesothelioma lawyers page.
Missouri Workplaces
- Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, Independence: the largest producer of small arms ammunition for the U.S. military. The EPA added it to its National Priorities List in 1987, in part because of long-term asbestos use.
Lake City is in the Kansas City area. For help with a claim, see our Kansas City mesothelioma lawyer page and our list of Kansas City asbestos exposure sites.
Arizona Workplaces
- Navajo Generating Station, Page: a coal-fired power plant that shut down in 2019. Asbestos trusts list it as an approved exposure site.
For other northern Arizona sites, including the Cholla Power Plant, the Snowflake paper mill and Northern Arizona University, see our guide to asbestos exposure sites in Flagstaff and northern Arizona. Phoenix-area workplaces are on our list of Phoenix asbestos exposure sites.
Asbestos Exposure by Type of Job Site
Many workers moved between plants over a career, or worked for contractors who served dozens of sites. These pages cover the kinds of places where asbestos exposure was most common:
Don’t See Your Workplace?
These pages cover only some of the places where people were exposed. Asbestos was used in thousands of plants, mills, bases, and buildings across the country. Our map of asbestos exposure sites by state covers more.
You do not need to know exactly where the exposure happened before you call. Tracing work history is part of our job. Michael Throneberry trained as a civil and environmental engineer before becoming a lawyer, and we look at the jobs, the equipment, and the products involved to find where the asbestos came from.
If you or a family member has mesothelioma, contact us for a free case review. We work on a contingency fee: no fees unless we win.