San Antonio Exposure Map
● Critical ● High ● Moderate
Major Asbestos Exposure Sites
| Facility | Sector | Risk Level | Active Period | Est. Civilian Workers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kelly AFB / Port San Antonio – Aircraft Maintenance | Military aviation / Air Logistics Center | Critical | 1917–2001 (BRAC closure; asbestos use 1940s–1989) | ~12,000 peak civilian |
| Brooks AFB – Aerospace Medicine | Military aerospace medicine / research | High | 1917–2011 (BRAC closure; asbestos use 1940s–1980s) | ~5,000 peak |
| Randolph AFB – Aircraft Maintenance | Military aviation training / maintenance | High | 1930–present (asbestos use 1940s–1980s) | ~4,000 peak civilian |
| CPS Energy – J.T. Deely & Calaveras Power Plants | Electricity generation | High | 1960s–present (asbestos use through 1985) | ~1,500 peak |
| Commercial Construction – San Antonio | Commercial / institutional building | Moderate | 1950s–1978 | ~3,000 peak concurrent |
| Southern Pacific Railroad – San Antonio Shops | Railroad maintenance | Moderate | 1880s–1990s | ~800 peak |
Kelly AFB: Aircraft Overhaul and Asbestos Exposure
Kelly Air Force Base operated as the Air Force’s primary aircraft overhaul and maintenance facility for decades, maintaining everything from cargo transport aircraft to fighter jets and bombers. Civilian employees — mechanics, sheet metal workers, electricians, pipefitters, and painters — worked in massive hangar facilities where aircraft components containing asbestos were routinely disassembled and rebuilt.
Asbestos in the aircraft maintenance context came from multiple sources: brake assemblies on landing gear, engine compartment insulation, cockpit and cabin firewall panels, gaskets on engine components, and asbestos-containing materials used in the hangar buildings themselves. The combination of hangar insulation and aircraft-component asbestos created compound exposure environments.
Importantly, civilian federal employees at Kelly AFB have two separate compensation pathways. The Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) provides workers’ compensation benefits through the Department of Labor — and civilian workers can simultaneously file civil lawsuits against the manufacturers of asbestos-containing products used at the base. These are separate claims and pursuing one does not bar the other.
Compensation Pathways for Kelly AFB Civilian Workers
- FECA (workers’ compensation) — Federal Employees’ Compensation Act; file through the U.S. Department of Labor OWCP; covers medical costs and wage replacement
- Civil lawsuit against product manufacturers — file in Texas state court (2-year SOL from diagnosis) against companies like Owens Corning, Bendix, Garlock, and other asbestos product manufacturers whose materials were used at Kelly
- Asbestos trust fund claims — administrative claims against 60+ asbestos bankruptcy trusts; separate from lawsuits and FECA
- VA benefits — if the worker also had prior military service, VA disability compensation for mesothelioma may apply in addition to the above
Yes. The base closing has no effect on your legal rights. The statute of limitations runs from your mesothelioma diagnosis date (Texas gives 2 years from diagnosis), not from when the exposure occurred. Workers who were exposed at Kelly in the 1970s and receive a mesothelioma diagnosis today have 2 years from that diagnosis date to file in Texas. Civil claims are against the manufacturers of asbestos products — many of which have funded bankruptcy trusts paying claims today — not against the Air Force or the base itself.