A judge in Roswell, NM, has consolidated five lawsuits that are pending against El Paso Natural Gas as a result of the August 2000 fiery explosion on the pipeline’s South Mainline in New Mexico that killed 12 members of two extended families (see NGI, June 25; Aug. 28, 2000).

At the request of El Paso, State District Judge William P. Lynch consolidated three lawsuits filed by an Eddy County, NM, woman on behalf of her two grown children and grandson who were killed in the blast, with two other civil actions that were filed by an Eddy County man on behalf of his mother and half-sister who were killed. Lynch said the five cases addressed “common questions of law and fact.”

The judge also 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. Lynch noted a survey conducted by El Paso in April of the attitudes of Eddy County residents found that “there is a reasonable probability that the defendants cannot receive a fair and impartial jury trial in Eddy County.”

Lynch said it was unlikely the trial would get under way any earlier than the fall or winter of 2002, assuming the cases aren’t settled out of court.

A sixth lawsuit, over which Lynch presided, was closed this past September, with the family of one of the victims of the explosion settling out of court with El Paso for a reported $14 million. Lynch believes El Paso was “prejudiced” by the publicity that surrounded the settlement in New Mexico.

The 12 victims were killed while they were fishing and camping alongside the Pecos River near Carlsbad, NM, the site of the explosion on El Paso’s South Mainline on Aug. 19, 2000. They were consumed in a blast and fireball that ripped open an 86-foot long and 20-foot deep trench, and left a mass of twisted metal pipe.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) at the time cited internal corrosion as potentially one of the causes of the fatal blast, but it has not issued its final report yet.

The Department of Transportation’s Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) said last June that it was seeking a fine of $2.52 million against El Paso for several “probable violations” that potentially contributed to the deadly explosion on its system. It was the “largest civil penalty” ever sought against a pipeline operator for federal safety violations, according to OPS (See NGI, June 25).

El Paso can challenge both the fine and OPS’ findings that the pipeline committed “probable violations” of the federal pipeline safety regulations. Top OPS officials, however, have refused to comment on the status of the agency’s proceedings involving El Paso.

©Copyright 2001 Intelligence Press Inc. Allrights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republishedor redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without priorwritten consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.