El Paso Corp. has settled five lawsuits arising from the fatal explosion on El Paso Natural Gas’ South Mainline system in New Mexico in August 2000, which killed 12 members of two extended families. Terms of the settlements were not disclosed.

Three lawsuits were brought by Martha Chapman of Eddy County, NM, on behalf of her two grown children and grandson who died in the blast, and two civil actions were filed by Jerry Rackley, also of Eddy County, on behalf of his mother and half-sister who were killed (See NGI, Dec. 3, 2001 ).

The lawsuits were pending before State District Judge William P. Lynch in Roswell, NM, who was expected to hear the cases this fall.. The settlements between El Paso and the parties were reached about a week ago, an aide to Lynch told NGI. Attorneys in the cases could not be reached for comment.

The judge consolidated the five lawsuits against El Paso in November 2001, and ordered a change in venue for the trial to Chaves County, NM, from Eddy County, where the deadly explosion occurred and where the victims lived and their families still reside.

A sixth lawsuit brought by the family of one of the victims was settled out of court with El Paso for a reported $14 million, and the company is said to have reached settlements in several other lawsuits.

Twelve victims were killed while they were fishing and camping alongside the Pecos River near Carlsbad, NM, the site of the rupture and explosion on El Paso’s South Mainline system on Aug. 19, 2000. They were consumed in a blast and fireball that ripped open an 113-foot long and 51-foot deep trench, and left a mass of twisted metal (See NGI, Aug. 28, 2000 ).

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) still is investigating the cause of the fatal explosion, and is expected to release its final findings later this year. In late June, the NTSB issued a series of factual reports that appeared to confirm federal investigators’ initial suspicions of substantial internal corrosion as the cause. It found “severe corrosion damage” on the bottom of the interior of the 1950s-vintage pipeline near the explosion site (See NGI, June 24).

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