About Alcoa Warrick Operations Smelter Newburgh Indiana

Alcoa Warrick Operations sits on more than 1,000 acres along the Ohio River in Newburgh, Warrick County, Indiana. Construction began in 1955; primary aluminum production started in 1960. The facility sits approximately 10 miles east of Evansville, in a region with a long history of heavy industrial employment across Vanderburgh, Warrick, and Posey counties.

Core operations included:

  • Primary aluminum smelting via Hall-Héroult electrolytic reduction
  • A dedicated coal-fired electric generating station
  • Aluminum rolling and fabrication mills
  • Extensive utility infrastructure — steam distribution, compressed air, electrical, and water treatment systems
  • Maintenance and capital project divisions employing skilled trades workers

At peak production, the facility employed approximately 6,000 workers. Many were members of Indiana-based union locals, including the United Steelworkers and affiliated building trades unions that serviced industrial facilities throughout southwestern Indiana.

Corporate History and Liability

Corporate ownership directly affects which entities bear legal liability and which insurance policies are available to pay claims:

  • 1960–2016: Operated by Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa)
  • 2016: Alcoa split into Alcoa Corporation (upstream aluminum and bauxite) and Arconic Inc. (downstream products); Warrick Operations remained with Alcoa Corporation
  • 2021: Magnitude 7 Metals acquired smelter operations
  • Current status: Facility remains operational with a reduced workforce

An Indiana asbestos attorney can trace insurance coverage and successor liability across these corporate transitions — but that work can only begin if you call before Indiana’s two-year filing deadline expires.

General Equipment at Alcoa Warrick Operations Smelter Newburgh Indiana

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.

Industrial Boilers View crosswalk › Process Piping View crosswalk › Pipe Insulation View crosswalk › Block Insulation View crosswalk › Valves View crosswalk › Gaskets View crosswalk › Pumps View crosswalk › Heat Exchangers View crosswalk › Cooling Equipment View crosswalk ›

Documented Asbestos Evidence — Indiana

The records below are verified, state-documented asbestos removals at this facility. Each entry represents a regulated abatement project where the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) 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 IDEM 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:

Thermal System Insulation View crosswalk › Asbestos-Cement Board View crosswalk › Pipe Insulation View crosswalk › Roofing & Flashing View crosswalk › Spray Fireproofing View crosswalk › Floor Tile & Mastic View crosswalk › Ceiling Tile View crosswalk › Gaskets & Packing View crosswalk ›

Who May Have Been Exposed at Alcoa Warrick Operations Smelter Newburgh Indiana

Exposure risk at Warrick was not uniform. Certain trades worked directly with or immediately adjacent to asbestos-containing materials on a daily basis. Many of those workers were members of Indiana-based union locals that serviced the southwestern Indiana industrial region.

Thermal Insulation Workers (Asbestos Workers Local 18)

Asbestos Workers Local 18, representing heat and frost insulators in Indiana, is among the unions whose members may have worked at Warrick Operations during the facility’s peak construction and expansion years. Those workers may have:

  • Applied, maintained, and removed asbestos-containing pipe covering on process piping
  • Installed and removed asbestos-containing block insulation on boiler and vessel surfaces
  • Cut, fit, and shaped asbestos-containing materials including calcium silicate pipe insulation — generating intense fiber release
  • Mixed asbestos-containing plaster, mastic, and sprayed-on insulation products
  • Removed legacy asbestos-containing insulation during equipment replacement and facility modifications

Heat and frost insulators face among the highest documented mesothelioma rates of any industrial trade. Local 18 members who worked at Warrick and at other Indiana industrial sites — including the Gary steel corridor and the Evansville-area industrial complex — may have accumulated significant cumulative exposure across multiple job sites. If you are a former Local 18 member, or the family member of one, and a mesothelioma diagnosis has been received, Indiana’s two-year statute of limitations means there is no time to delay.

Boilermakers (Boilermakers Local 374)

Boilermakers Local 374 and affiliated Indiana boilermaker locals represent workers who built and maintained boilers, pressure vessels, and related equipment throughout the region’s industrial facilities. Members may have worked at Warrick’s coal-fired generating station and throughout the smelting complex, allegedly:

  • Building and maintaining coal-fired generating station equipment with asbestos-containing components
  • Performing routine maintenance on boilers, steam lines, and heat exchangers containing asbestos-containing materials
  • Working in confined spaces with asbestos-containing refractory and insulation products
  • Operating and inspecting boiler systems with asbestos-containing components including spray-applied fireproofing and similar materials
  • Conducting repairs on high-temperature equipment insulated with asbestos-containing products

Boilermakers at Warrick may have worked under conditions similar to those alleged at Bethlehem Steel Burns Harbor and U.S. Steel Gary Works, where boilermaker trades documented extensive contact with asbestos-containing refractory and insulation products during maintenance outages.

Pipefitters and Plumbers

Indiana-based pipefitter and plumber locals serviced the Warrick Operations facility during construction and ongoing maintenance. Members of those locals may have been exposed to asbestos-containing materials while:

  • Installing and maintaining insulated process piping throughout the smelting complex
  • Working on steam and condensate systems in and around the coal-fired generating station
  • Handling asbestos-containing gasket and packing materials on flanges, valves, and pump seals
  • Replacing

For informational purposes only. Not legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by reading this page. © 2026 Rights Watch Media Group LLC — Disclaimer · Privacy · Terms · Copyright

Indiana — Filing Deadline & Next Steps

Indiana law gives mesothelioma and asbestos-disease claimants 2 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury lawsuit (Ind. Code § 34-11-2-4). For wrongful-death claims after an asbestos-related death, the filing window is 2 years from the date of death (Ind. Code § 34-23-1-1). 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

  1. 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.
  2. Preserve medical records. Pathology reports, biopsy results, imaging, and pulmonary-function tests are central to both civil claims and trust-fund filings.
  3. 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.
  4. Speak with an asbestos attorney with Indiana 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 — Indiana

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 — Indiana

Information about facility equipment, industrial materials, and occupational records referenced on this page is drawn from publicly available sources where applicable, including:

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.