June 13, 2013

Pipelines, Liability and Insurance?
...In 1937, about 300 schoolchildren and teachers died in the New London school tragedy, the worst gas explosion in Texas history. Lawsuits brought by parents and families against the school district and the Parade Gasoline Company, whose leaking gas fueled the explosion, were all dismissed when the court found no liability.

Things have not improved much today...EG


They crisscross the country in a complex maze just below ground level, carrying flammable, dangerous, and highly polluting liquids and poisonous gases. They are capable of catastrophic failures that have killed people and devastated property. They corrode, they leak, they explode — and they do it with some regularity.
The millions of miles of gas and oil pipelines in the United States are vital to every aspect of modern life, but they are also perilous. And companies that own them are not required by state or federal law to carry insurance on one inch of those lines. Most Texas cities, including Fort Worth, require insurance policies, but usually in amounts that wouldn’t cover the damages from any sizable pipeline failure. ...

Read more: http://www.fwweekly.com/2013/06/12/a-perilous-grid/