Why Mesothelioma Cases Occur in Texas City
Texas City's asbestos legacy is inseparable from two defining events: the 1947 Texas City Disaster and the 2005 BP Texas City Refinery explosion. On April 16, 1947, a ship loaded with ammonium nitrate exploded in the harbor, killing nearly 600 people and destroying the waterfront industrial complex. The 1950s reconstruction rebuilt Monsanto, Pan American Refining (later Amoco/BP, now Marathon), Union Carbide, and other plants using the era's standard construction practices — including extensive asbestos-containing fireproofing, insulation, and gaskets. A generation of Texas City workers spent their careers in facilities rebuilt with the asbestos technology of the 1950s.
The Marathon Petroleum Texas City Refinery (acquired from BP in 2013) is one of the largest refineries in the United States. On March 23, 2005, it was the site of the BP Texas City explosion that killed 15 workers and injured 170 — a disaster investigated in detail by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB). While that event is most associated with process safety failures, the facility's 80-year operating history includes extensive asbestos use in pipe insulation, catalytic cracker units, heat exchangers, and boilers. Turnaround maintenance at Marathon Texas City has produced significant asbestos exposures across decades of operations.
The Valero Texas City Refinery (approximately 260,000 barrels per day) operates adjacent to Marathon. Valero's Texas City operations trace back to early-20th-century refining, with asbestos-containing insulation used throughout process units through the 1980s. The INEOS Texas City plant (formerly Union Carbide, then Dow-Union Carbide merger, later ISP Chemicals, now INEOS) produces ethylene oxide, glycols, and specialty chemicals in equipment historically insulated with asbestos.
Other historically significant Texas City-area sites include Amoco Chemical / BP Chemical Texas City (since consolidated into BP/Marathon), Dow Chemical Texas Operations in nearby Freeport, and several smaller specialty chemical producers. Across all of these facilities, the peak asbestos-use era ran from the 1950s reconstruction period through the early 1980s. Workers routinely handled pipe insulation, boiler lagging, and gasket materials.
The 20-to-50-Year Latency Period
Mesothelioma does not appear immediately after asbestos exposure. The disease has a latency period of 20 to 50 years, meaning workers exposed in Texas City-area facilities during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s are being diagnosed now. A tradesperson who worked around asbestos insulation in Texas City in 1970 may only receive a mesothelioma diagnosis in 2026 or later. This long latency period is why Texas City continues to produce new mesothelioma cases decades after asbestos use was curtailed.
Texas City's Asbestos Legacy by the Numbers
Texas City's industrial district was rebuilt in the late 1940s and early 1950s using the era's standard construction practices — including massive amounts of asbestos insulation, fireproofing, and gaskets. Marathon Texas City alone processes hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil daily in equipment that was historically insulated with asbestos materials. Texas allows 2 years from diagnosis to file a mesothelioma claim. Documenting your asbestos exposure history is a critical first step.
