El Paso Corp.

Washington, DC: (Jul-26-07) The Justice Department and the Department of Transportation brought charges against El Paso Corp., alleging that the natural gas company violated federal norms at its facility, causing a deadly pipeline explosion. In a settlement reached, El Paso Corp. agreed to pay a $15.5 million penalty and spend at least $86 million to modify its natural gas pipeline system to settle federal allegations. The settlement with the Justice and Transportation departments comes under the Pipeline Safety Act and follows the 2000 explosion of an El Paso Natural Gas Co. pipeline that killed 12 people in New Mexico. The Justice Department said the cause of the explosion was a significant reduction in pipe wall thickness due to severe internal corrosion. Further, as part of the settlement, El Paso agreed to undertake collecting and analyzing liquid samples for corrosive properties whenever a pipeline is opened on its system. [FORBES: PIPELINE EXPLOSION]

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Published on Jul-27-07