Personal Injury Law

California natural gas pipeline explosion resonates across Illinois

By Kris Briggs

Our Chicago personal injury attorneys and Illinois workers' compensation lawyers have been monitoring a series of hearings stemming from the natural gas pipeline explosion that killed 7 in San Bruno, Calif. on Sept. 7.

The explosion is just one more deadly event associated with a chain of national spills and accidents capturing headlines nationwide. And one that hits close to home. In early September, Chicago residents and workers alike began expressing concern after an Enbridge Energy Partners pipeline southwest of the Chicago area began leaking crude oil just two days after the explosion, CNN reports.

This most recent leak comes after a string of leaks associated with the Enbridge pipeline that moves 670,000 barrels a day from Wisconsin to Indiana. The company has been investigating pipeline integrity and reviewing spill accidents since early summer after an 800,000 gallon spill into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan exposed the community to the volatile carcinogen, benzene.

The media attention swirling around the increasing number of large natural resource spills of all kinds ? from the BP spill in the Gulf to the San Bruno natural gas leak to the Kalamazoo River dumping ? has lawmakers on the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials questioning regulatory and oversight procedures.

Ten days after the vice-president of U.S. operations for Enbridge assured members of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure that his company was capable an almost instantaneous response to leaks detected at the company control center, nearly a million gallons were dumped in Michigan.

On the heels of the spill, Committee Chair Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) questioned the timeliness of Enbridge reporting of the accident to the National Response Center. Oberstar said the company was aware of ?hundreds of defects in the line? and still failed to act to address them.

In a hearing before Congress this week, one Michigan mother tearfully spoke to the committee about how the spill has affected her family. The President and CEO of Enbridge also addressed the committee saying he was ?deeply concerned? about the incident.

Whether these accidents or hearing investigating same will lead to more safety protocols or industry-wide reforms is yet to be seen. But when proper safety procedures are ignored, the results can be deadly.

Full post as published by Illinois Injury Law Blog on September 25, 2010 (boomark / email).