Nearly a month after an explosion at a downtown Fort Worth hotel injured nearly 20 people, cleanup has finally begun.
Investigators initially said the Jan. 8 explosion at the Sandman Signature Hotel, 810 Houston Street, appeared to have been caused by a natural gas leak, but the cause has not been officially determined. As lawsuits pile up against the building's owner, gas supplier and others, a court has issued an order blocking crews from removing debris and potential evidence from the explosion site.
Atmos Energy, which supplies gas to much of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, said it had found “no evidence” that its equipment or gas lines were involved in the explosion.
Still, the blast has led to a growing number of lawsuits from around a dozen people injured, and gas suppliers have come under increasing scrutiny. Atmos Energy asked the judge to release the company from liability.
“We will thoroughly investigate the cause of these explosions,” said Kelker Garcia, a founding partner and attorney at Kelkar Garcia, which filed two lawsuits against Atmos Energy in January over gas-related explosions. Jesus Garcia Jr. said.
Deadly explosion at or near the Atmos line
Prior to the Sandman explosion, at least six structures had exploded near Atmos-owned power lines across North Texas since early 2019, according to Texas Railroad Commission records. The explosion killed two people and injured at least a dozen others. Atmos was not found to be at fault in any of these cases. The state found that these six explosions were caused by leaks in the portion of the gas line for which the customers were responsible. No leaks were detected. Or if a water leak occurs in a nearby area.
An explosion at a Garland home in August 2022 killed two people and hospitalized five more. Records show a leak was discovered in a customer-owned portion of a gas line near the home. In July 2021, a house explosion in Plano sent six people, including three children, to the hospital. According to records, no gas leaks were found.
Spokeswoman Patti Ramon said the Railroad Commission has jurisdiction only over the utility portion of the pipeline, not customer piping.
However, in some of these cases, Atmos abandoned or replaced service lines near the homes where the explosions occurred.
The state also cited the company for violations in two other explosions near Atmos gas lines, one of which was fatal.
a dallas morning news A 2018 study confirmed that at least 24 explosions occurred in North and Central Texas, killing nine people and injuring at least 22 others, and Atmos is the most common type of explosion in North and Central Texas. They were unable to shut off the gas or evacuate residents beforehand.
When asked in January about the company's pipeline safety efforts, an Atmos spokesperson pointed to its 2022 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Report. The company directed approximately 88% of its capital expenditures in fiscal 2022 to “the continued safety and reliability modernization” of its power distribution, transmission and storage systems, according to the report.
In the same year, the company said its employees completed approximately 94,000 hours of safety training. In an emergency situation, Atmos emergency responders follow a four-step process: determining risk, level of risk, protecting life and protecting property, company officials said.
The Texas Railroad Commission, the state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, has issued citations to the company in two other cases for what the commission calls “alleged violations.” One was the 2021 explosion at the Atmos facility in Farmersville that killed two employees. Derrick Tarver and Ethan Knight, who are not Atmos employees, and two other Atmos employees were injured in a November 2020 fire near Highland Park High School.
The Farmersville explosion occurred as employees of Fesco Petroleum, Bobcat Contracting and Atmos were performing pipeline maintenance using an in-line inspection tool, also known as a “pig.” Tarver's family filed a lawsuit over the explosion. Atmos, Bobcat, and Fesco were named as defendants.
Garcia said the lawsuit, which also includes Knight's family, was recently settled for an undisclosed amount.
The Railroad Commission cited Atmos' lack of written procedures for operations, maintenance activities and emergency response. Failure to replace unsafe sections of pipeline. In an incident near a high school, an Atmos employee was repairing a damaged service line when a fire broke out, and the state charged the company with similar crimes involving written procedures.
In 2021, the commission fined Atmos $1.6 million for its role in the 2018 death of Linda “Michelita” Rogers, a 12-year-old girl whose home exploded in northwest Dallas. I was punished. The National Transportation Safety Board said natural gas leaked from a main that was damaged during a sewer replacement project 23 years ago. The agency said the gas built up and then ignited, causing the explosion.
State and federal investigations have since revealed that the company identified a water leak two months before the girl's death, as well as two other explosions at nearby homes in the days leading up to the fatal explosion. , it became clear that warning signs had been ignored. Over the next few days, Atmos discovered at least 28 leaks throughout the neighborhood.
The company was asked to submit a corrective action plan to address several mistakes, including:
- Failure to train workers to identify and investigate leaks
- Not training workers on how to conduct investigations in high-risk areas
- Lack of procedures to monitor electrical distribution systems for corrosion and other maintenance needs
- Use of technology not designed for weather conditions
The year after the girl's death, Atmos settled a lawsuit with her family for an undisclosed amount.
“Lives are at risk.”
Abe Scarr, director of the Energy and Utilities Program at the U.S. Public Utilities Research Group, said gas leaks in electrical distribution systems across the country are typically due to “old infrastructure.”of news' An investigation at the time found that Atmos had some of the oldest pipelines in the country and was in a state prone to corrosion and cracking.
At the time, Dallas had 400 miles of cast-iron pipes, typically the oldest and prone to leaks. In 2019, Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 866, introduced by Dallas Democrat Rafael Anchia, requiring pipeline operators to remove all cast iron pipe from their systems by the end of 2021. The utility system was removed that year.
John Jose, managing partner of Slack Davis Sanger's Fort Worth office, said leaks can occur due to problems with the utility section of the gas line, the gas meter or the customer-owned section.
“Standard practice is that pipelines are under the jurisdiction of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration or state pipeline safety programs up to the (gas) meter,” said Executive Director of the national watchdog group Pipeline Safety Trust. Director Bill Cullum said. “Sometimes the meter is inside the building, but often it's outside.”
The company has settled at least a dozen cases, according to a 2018 study. Legal investigations continue to mount, including lawsuits filed by families affected by the explosion. Since 2019, the company has reached at least two settlements, one related to the death of Rogers and the other related to the deaths of Tarver and Knight.
On January 20, Carrollton Fire Department personnel responded to an explosion at a residence that left a man with severe burns. The man and his wife are suing Atmos Energy, alleging “negligence, carelessness and reckless disregard.” The lawsuit also accused the company of having a poor safety record and not implementing policies to reduce serious gas pipeline accidents.
Garcia said in a statement that the law firm representing the couple is questioning why the legal process “allows Atmos Energy, as a natural gas distribution company, to do this in homes, major commercial buildings and other locations. “We hope to find out why this is happening so often,” he said.
“We will force Atmos Energy to re-evaluate the way it operates its business and proactively identify potentially catastrophic problems rather than just reacting when a tragedy occurs.” he added. “You can never cut corners when people's lives are at risk.”
