Florida Asbestos Regulations & Dangers

Asbestos in Florida

Florida has developed a number of industries that utilize asbestos products in their processing operations.  There is also a processing plant in Tampa that manufactured insulation and other products from vermiculite.  For years one of the major sources of vermiculite has been a mine in Libby, Montana that is now owned by W.R. Grace.  The mineral from this mine has been found to contain substantial amounts of asbestos; over 100,000 tons of it was shipped to Tampa.  The mineral is heated to a very high temperature in order to use it for manufacturing: vermiculite from Libby released asbestos fibers in plants across the country for decades. 

Tampa’s vermiculite processing plant is not the only source of asbestos exposure in the state.  There are a number of chemical plants and power plants that certainly contained asbestos insulation at one time and perhaps still do.  There are military installations and shipyards in Florida, as well as NASA’s facility for launching rockets for satellites and the manned spaceflight program.  Florida has an extensive collection of power plants that provide electricity to the state and to the multistate grid in the area.  The state has a wide assortment of potential asbestos contamination sites: as a result, Florida has one of the highest death rates from mesothelioma in the United States.

Here are some of the Florida facilities that may have exposed employees to asbestos:

Tampa Electric Power Plant    Apollo Beach, FL
Armour Chemical Plant   Bartow, FL
W.R. Grace Phosphate Plant   Bartow, FL
Florida Power Corp. (Progress Energy) Bayboro, FL
Florida Crushed Stone Co.   Brooksville, FL
St Regis Paper Co.    Cantonment, FL
Florida Power & Light   Cape Canaveral, FL
Kennedy Space Center   Cape Canaveral, FL
Florida Power Corp. (Progress Energy) Crystal River, FL
Patrick Air Force Base   Cocoa Beach, FL
Georgia Pacific    Cross City,FL
FPL Power Plant    Cutler, FL
FPL Power Plant    Deltona, FL
Eglin Air Force Base    Eglin, FL
Gulf Power Co.    Escambia, FL
American Container Paper Mill  Fernandina Beach, FL
Rayonier Paper Mill    Fernandina Beach, FL
FPL Turkey Pt. Nuclear Power Plant  Florida City, FL
FPL Power Plant    Fort Myers, FL
FPL Power Plant    Fort Lauderdale
FPL St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant  Fort Pierce, FL
Chemstrand Company    Gonzales, FL
White Springs Agricultural Chemical  Hamilton, FL
Florida Power Corp. (Progress Energy) Higgins, FL
CF Industries     Hillsborough, FL
Tampa Electric    Hillsborough, FL
Homestead Air Force Base   Homestead, FL
Reliant Energy    Indian River, FL
Bellinger Shipyard    Jacksonville, FL
Gibbs Shipyard    Jacksonville, FL
Keene Corp.     Jacksonville, FL
St Regis Paper Mill    Jacksonville, FL
U.S. Gypsum     Jacksonville, FL
Exxon Oil Refinery    Jay, FL
Hess Oil     Jay, FL
Florida Power Corp. (Progress Energy) Live Oak, FL (Suwannee Plant)
FPL Power Plant    Martin, FL
U.S. Naval Station    Mayport, FL
Reliant Energy    Osceola, FL
American Cyamid    Pace, FL
Georgia Pacific Paper Mill   Palatka, FL
Wainwright Shipyard     Palatka, FL    
Arizona Chemical    Panama City, FL
International Paper    Panama City, FL
Smurfit Stone Container Co.   Panama City, FL
Tyndall Airforce Base    Panama City, FL
Ashland Chemical    Pensacola, FL
Gulf Power Plant    Pensacola, FL
Monsanto Textiles    Pensacola, FL
National Cork Co,    Pensacola, FL
Newport Chemical Plant   Pensacola, FL
Pensacola Naval Air Station   Pensacola, FL
Pensacola Naval Shipyard   Pensacola, FL
Tenneco     Pensacola, FL
Calpine Auburn Power Plant   Polk, FL
Florida Power Corp. (Progress Energy) Polk, FL
IMC Phosphates    Polk, FL
Mosaic Co, (Cargill Fertilizer)  Polk, FL
FPL Power Plant    Port Everglades, FL
Arizona Chemical    Port St Joe, FL
St. Regis Paper Mill    Port St Joe, FL
FPL Power Plant    Putnam, FL 
FPL Power Plant    Sanford, FL
Gulf Power     Santa Rosa
CPV Cana Ltd.    St. Lucie, FL
Duke Energy     St. Lucie, FL
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft   West Palm Beach, FL

Asbestos Related Deaths in Florida

The government has made data available that provides the number of asbestosis and mesothelioma deaths from 1979 to the year 2000.  Over that period, there were 1,095 deaths from asbestosis and from 1,976 to 3,432 mesothelioma deaths in the state.  The range of deaths for mesothelioma represents the figure of recorded deaths and a higher estimate of deaths that include both mesothelioma and deaths that may have been attributed to another type of cancer. 

The federal government began tracking mesothelioma deaths carefully in 1998.  From that time through 2004 there were 1,095 deaths in Florida due to mesothelioma.  Florida trails only California in having the most residents succumb to asbestos related diseases.

Florida Mesothelioma Cancer treatment

The National Cancer Institute has designated forty one facilities around the country as Comprehensive Cancer Centers, where both treatment and research are ongoing, supported partially by the Institute.  The designated facility in Florida is:

H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
www.moffitt.org/
University of South Florida
12902 Magnolia Drive
Tampa, Florida 33612-9497
Tel: (813) 615-4261
Fax: (813) 615-4258
 
William S. Dalton, Ph.D., M.D.
CEO & Center Director

The University of Florida Shands Cancer Center
http://ufscc.ufl.edu/
Has two locations:

Shands at University of Florida
1600 SW Archer Road
Gainesville, FL 32610

(352) 265-0111 or
(800) 749-7424.

Shands Jacksonville
655 West 8th Street
Jacksonville, FL 32209

(904) 244-0411

Florida Asbestos Abatement

BEM Systems - Services - Environmental Health and Safety - Industrial Hygiene and Safety - Asbestos Management.

Florida Asbestos and Mesothelioma Resources

Florida Asbestos Professionals

Florida Lung Association