In Farmington, New Mexico, an incident during the final week of December at the San Juan Generating Station forced the coal-fired power plant to close down. While there was an issue with the boiler at the station, officials were quick to defuse rumors.

‘There wasn’t an explosion," said Susan Sponar, a power station spokeswoman.

The San Juan Generating Station is owned by Public Service Company of New Mexico. The site has four units to generate power with, and this incident caused the station to only be able to deliver 75 percent of its maximum output. The malfunctioning unit will now stay off-line while it is repaired.

"Units 1, 3 and 4 continue to operate, and there will be no disruption of service," Sponar said. "This will be managed much like a scheduled outage once the required repair scope is determined, so customers will not be affected."

Insulation around the boiler was damaged during the incident. According to Lisa Martin, regional community liaison with San Juan Generating Station, "We took precautions for asbestos exposure." Sponar added, "We treated this as a potential hazard and kept everybody out to keep people safe. The safety of our employees is priority."

Asbestos exposure is conclusively linked to the development of mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer. The disease typically lies dormant for up to fifty years before an individual begins to suffer from mesothelioma symptoms, and the majority of patients lose their battle with this cancer in less than two years. The material was sent out for testing, and it has been revealed that no asbestos was present in the sample.

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