About Ghent Generating Station
Facility History and Size
- Construction began: 1970s
- Unit 1 commissioning: 1974
- Total generating units: Four units
- Construction continued: Into the 1980s
- Peak capacity: Among the largest coal-fired power plants in Kentucky
- Location: Carroll County, Kentucky, along the Ohio River
- Operating company: American Electric Power (AEP) and Kentucky Utilities
Industrial Construction Practices of the Era
Every large industrial power plant built during this period used materials and methods now recognized as serious occupational health hazards. At Ghent Station, that means asbestos-containing materials applied throughout construction, insulation work, and decades of maintenance outages.
Ghent Station was not unique in Kentucky. Workers at Armco Steel in Ashland, General Electric Appliance Park in Louisville, LG&E power plants across the Commonwealth, and the US Army Depot in Richmond faced comparable asbestos-containing materials hazards during the same decades — reflecting a statewide pattern of industrial ACM use that is now producing a wave of mesothelioma diagnoses among Kentucky’s aging workforce. Because Kentucky’s one-year statute of limitations is among the strictest in the nation, those diagnoses demand immediate legal action by qualified toxic tort counsel experienced in asbestos litigation.
Skilled Trades and Job Roles Most at Risk
Workers in the following trades may have been exposed to asbestos-containing materials at Ghent Station during construction, commissioning, and ongoing maintenance outages.
Heat and Frost Insulators — Asbestos Workers Local 76
Insulators affiliated with Asbestos Workers Local 76 — whose jurisdiction covered major Kentucky industrial and power generation sites — faced the most direct and sustained contact with asbestos-containing materials at Ghent Station. Alleged exposure scenarios include:
- Applying, removing, and replacing thermal insulation on boilers, steam piping, turbines, and associated equipment
- Cutting, fitting, and applying calcium silicate block insulation and pre-formed pipe covering that allegedly contained asbestos
- Stripping old insulation that had become friable after years of thermal cycling — releasing fibers at high concentrations
- Daily, sustained contact with asbestos-containing materials during 1970s construction and subsequent maintenance outages
- Handling products from and that allegedly contained asbestos and were reportedly distributed to Kentucky power plants, including Ghent Station and comparable LG&E facilities across the state
If you were a member of Asbestos Workers Local 76 and have been diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease, Kentucky’s one-year filing deadline means your case must be evaluated immediately. Do not delay.
Plumbers and Pipefitters
Pipefitters and steamfitters who worked on Ghent Station’s steam, condensate, feedwater, and auxiliary piping systems may have been exposed to asbestos-containing materials through:
- Cutting and threading pipe while surrounded by asbestos-containing insulation
- Removing, cutting, and installing asbestos-containing gaskets at flange connections, allegedly including gaskets and packing products that may have contained asbestos
- Working alongside insulators simultaneously applying or stripping asbestos-containing pipe covering and block insulation
- Performing valve packing work using materials that may have contained asbestos-based rope or blanket packing
- Working in enclosed spaces while other trades disturbed asbestos-containing materials nearby
Boilermakers — Boilermakers Local 40 (Louisville)
Members of Boilermakers Local 40, based in Louisville and representing boilermaker craft workers throughout Kentucky, who worked at Ghent Station during construction and maintenance outages may have encountered the highest fiber concentrations in the plant:
- Entering and working inside boiler drums and fireboxes lined with asbestos-containing insulation and refractory materials allegedly supplied by
- Removing and replacing compressed fiber gaskets at boiler manholes and handhole covers
- Welding and cutting immediately adjacent to asbestos-containing insulation from products allegedly supplied by
- Repairing boiler components in spaces with accumulated asbestos-containing dust and debris
Boilermakers Local 40 members have reportedly filed mesothelioma claims arising from Kentucky power plant and industrial facility exposures for decades, reflecting the severity of boilermaker exposure at facilities like Ghent Station and comparable plants including LG&E’s Trimble County and Mill Creek stations. If you are a Boilermakers Local 40 member or retiree who has received a mesothelioma diagnosis, Kentucky’s twelve-month filing clock is already running. Contact a Kentucky mesothelioma attorney today.
Electricians — IBEW Local 369
Members of IBEW Local 369, representing electrical workers throughout the Louisville metropolitan area and surrounding Kentucky counties, may have been exposed at Ghent Station through:
- Installing conduit and wiring through areas where other trades were disturbing asbestos-containing fireproofing and insulation
- Working with or near electrical components that may have contained asbestos-based insulating materials, potentially including products allegedly supplied by
- Performing work during maintenance outages when large-scale insulation removal and replacement occurred throughout the plant
IBEW Local 369 members who also worked at General Electric Appliance Park in Louisville or LG&E power plants in the region may have faced cumulative asbestos exposure across multiple job sites — a pattern that Kentucky mesothelioma attorneys routinely document in building multi-site exposure cases. Multi-site exposure histories can significantly strengthen a claim, but only if that claim is filed before Kentucky’s one-year deadline expires.
Millwrights and Maintenance Workers
- Performing equipment maintenance, turbine work, and mechanical repairs in areas where asbestos-containing insulation and gaskets were reportedly in service
- Contacting asbestos-containing materials in gaskets, packing, and insulation during routine equipment service
Laborers and Helpers
- Potentially exposed to asbestos-containing materials disturbed by other trades working nearby
- Reportedly assigned to clean up asbestos-containing debris and dust, often without adequate respiratory protection
Operating Engineers and Plant Operators
- Working daily in boiler rooms, turbine halls, and equipment areas where asbestos-containing insulation and equipment components were present throughout the plant’s operational years
- Potentially exposed during equipment failures, steam leaks, and emergency repair situations when insulation was disturbed without standard abatement protocols
General Equipment at Ghent Generating Station
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 Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection (Kentucky DEP) 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 Kentucky DEP 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 & Next Steps
Kentucky law gives mesothelioma and asbestos-disease claimants 1 year from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury lawsuit (KRS § 413.140). For wrongful-death claims after an asbestos-related death, the filing window is 1 year from the date of death (KRS § 413.180). The two deadlines run on separate tracks — preserving one does not extend the other.
The personal-injury clock runs from diagnosis, not from exposure. Mesothelioma latency is typically 20 to 50 years, so workers exposed in the 1950s–1980s are being diagnosed today.
Practical first steps
- Document what you remember. Pay stubs, W-2s, union cards, photographs, coworker names, and dates of employment. The WorkChain widget on this page can save a copy you can email yourself.
- Preserve medical records. Pathology reports, biopsy results, imaging, and pulmonary-function tests are central to both civil claims and trust-fund filings.
- Identify household members. Spouses who laundered work clothing and children of plant workers are eligible for secondary-exposure claims when diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease.
- Speak with an asbestos attorney with Kentucky experience. The first conversation is free and confidential. Asbestos trust-fund claims and civil claims run on different tracks — both can be pursued in parallel.
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)
- Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection 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.