United States Gypsum Company plant at Empire, Nevada

United States Gypsum Company made plaster products at Empire, Nevada, according to its own sworn answers in lawsuits.¹ In answers given in 1986 and again in 1988, USG listed Empire, NV as the place where it made four products that contained asbestos.^1,2

The earliest, a basecoat plaster named in the 1986 answers as Red Top Wood Fiber Plaster - Regular, was made there from 1952 to 1960; the 1988 answers give the same basecoat and years, with its name cut off on the page.^1,2 Both sets of answers list two fireproofing plasters, FIRECODE D from 1959 to 1964 and FIRECODE V from 1964 to 1968, and a specialty plaster, Sheetrock Radiant Heat Filler - Machine Application, from 1971 to 1972.^1,2

A 1990 EPA notice that published what USG reported gives different spans for the fireproofing plasters, taken across all the plants that made them rather than Empire alone: Red Top Firecode Plaster (D) "1959 to 1964 at 12 plants" and Red Top Firecode "V" Plaster "1962 to 1969 at 16 plants."³ The notice describes FIRECODE D & V as "fireproofing plaster."³ An insurance company's list, compiled from other companies' answers in lawsuits, gives the product as made from 1959 to 1970.⁴

Location

Pictures of products made here

Labels, packages, photographs and catalog pages from our library of products documents say were made at this plant. Each picture has its own page and library number.

• Label: RED TOP FIRECODE PLASTER (UNITED STATES GYPSUM COMPANY)Red Top (U.S. Gypsum)Label or package · ACL Doc 15060
• Label: red top Patching Plaster (United States Gypsum Company)Red Top (U.S. Gypsum)Label or package · ACL Doc 15087
• Label: RED TOP Gypsum Cement Plaster (United States Gypsum Co.) and 1 other productRed Top (U.S. Gypsum); Imperial (U.S. Gypsum)Label or package · ACL Doc 15061

Asbestos products made here

The products documents say were made at this plant, with the years a document gives for the product here. Each product's page has what the documents say about it, including its asbestos content.

• Firecode D & V (U.S. Gypsum) · 1959–1969^1,2,3
• Red Top (U.S. Gypsum) · 1952–1960¹
• Sheetrock (U.S. Gypsum) · 1971–1972^1,2

Asbestos claims

If you or a family member worked at this plant, lived with someone who did, or worked with its products, and later developed mesothelioma or another asbestos disease, a claim may be paid by the United States Gypsum Asbestos PI Settlement Trust. Free case review.

What each document says

Every statement about this plant in the documents, in each document's own words.

Other names

Documents call this plant “Empire, NV”, “Empire, NY”, “Empire NY”.

See also

• United States Gypsum Company: the company's history, documents, people, products and plants
• Asbestos exposure sites in Nevada

References

1. United States Gypsum's Answers to Plaintiffs' Interrogatories in Dikun v. Armstrong World Industries (September 8, 1986), pp. 47–49.
2. United States Gypsum's Answers to Plaintiffs' Master Interrogatories in the Northern District of Oklahoma (June 20, 1988), pp. 40, 42.
3. Asbestos; Publication of Identifying Information (February 13, 1990), pp. 18–19.
4. The Travelers Insurance Company's Product Information Booklet for Its Asbestos Seminar (1980–1981) (April 30, 1981), p. 5.