By Matt Smith/msmith@trcle.com
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The June 7 explosion of a gas pipeline near Godley resulted from numerous violations of state regulations by the operator, according to a Tuesday report by the Texas Railroad Commission.
The explosion killed one worker and injured six others. The employees, working for C&H Power Lone Construction Co. of Oklahoma, were installing power line poles in the area when the blast occurred.
The 388-mile pipeline stretches from Coyanosa (about 64 miles southwest of Odessa in West Texas) to Ennis.
The blast killed James Robert Neese, 45, of Oklahoma at the scene. Neese was operating an auger with a high-pressure digger to drill vertical holes for the power poles when the blast occurred.
The ensuing explosion, fire and smoke could be seen for miles.
C&H Power had been contracted by Brazos Electric to install the poles.
Tuesday’s TRC report states that Enterprise Products [partial owners of the pipeline] failed to adequately mark the path of the buried line.
The report cites Enterprise for numerous violations of Texas Utilities Code safety requirements including failure to properly communicate with the excavator.
The report also cites C&H Power with not making sure the “area of evacuation was clear” of pipelines and for failing to provide a notification center with a second notice before undertaking excavation activities.
A National Transportation Safety Board board member in June also said the line was not marked.
NTSB Board Chairman Deborah Hersman discussed the incident during a June 24 U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing on pipeline safety.
Hersman said the construction company followed proper procedures in locating the line before digging, but that the line that exploded was not marked.
“A second pipeline operated by a different pipeline company also traversed the accident area,” Hersman said. “Workmen in the area reported that they saw markers for the second pipeline. An NTSB investigator and TRC personnel visiting the site also observed markers for the second pipeline, but the ruptured pipeline was not marked.”
Lawsuits filed
At least three of the workers present at the explosion have filed suit.
Neese’s wife, Lavonne Neese, filed suit June 11 in the 413th District Court as did Cody Shaffer, one of the workers injured in the blast.
Their suit names Enterprise and Quicksilver Resources, which also has partial ownership of the pipeline, as defendants. Also listed as defendant is Brazos Electric.
Bedford attorney Greg Fitzgerald said Wednesday that Shaffer’s case remains pending and is moving forward, but that no trial date has been set.
Lavonne Neese subsequently hired another attorney who will likely file another case in another jurisdiction, Fitzgerald said.
Another injured worker, Corey S. Gautreaux, filed suit against Enterprise Products in Harris County on June 14.
