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More than two months after the rupture of a natural gas line sparked a devastating explosion in Appomattox, the company that operates the pipeline has fielded about 135 damage claims.
Carin Andre, spokeswoman for Williams Gas Company, said the claims range from melted siding, well and sewer problems, broken refrigerators, cracks in the foundation and walls of houses, and medicine and other medical claims for those who could not make it back into their homes.
They’ve even handled a claim to replace dentures that were soaking on a man’s table when vibrations from the explosion knocked them to the floor and they cracked, Andre said.
With the exception of the two homes closest to the explosion, which were destroyed, Andre said all can be lived in once repairs are finalized.
“We started with approximately 135 claims and have resolved approximately 110 of those to date,” she said. “We are working diligently on the remaining claims to resolve them as soon as reasonably possible.”
Damages from the September explosion spanned more than a mile and injured five people.
Rocks fell through the roofs of two homes some 700 feet away from the three pipelines that cross beneath Virginia 26 just north of the town of Appomattox. On a quiet Sunday morning, one line ruptured and exploded. The resulting fireball scorched some 1,125 feet in diameter, according to preliminary findings from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
Pipeline representatives met with property owners at their homes to look into the claims.
“Depending on the situation, we may give the property owner an option of choosing between two or three home inspectors to make another assessment of the claim,” Andre said. “We may also request a structural engineer to review and make recommendations, and we have
identified local contractors who are willing to provide estimates.”
The property owners who wanted their own estimate had those reviewed with the company and settlements were offered for the repairs.
Last week, Williams received approval to restart the line that exploded at a reduced pressure of 640 pounds per square inch — about 20 percent less than the line’s normal operation pressure. Last month, the company increased the pressure to 800 psi on one of its neighboring lines.
The line that exploded and the remaining line will continue to run at the reduced pressure through the winter; the company will then reapply to the federal agency to increase the pressure.
The natural gas pipeline that runs through Appomattox is part of the Transco line, which extends from the Gulf of Mexico to New York, including 858 miles in Virginia.
Reader Reactions
It still bothers me that Williams/Transco is making “further assessments of the claims” and that people are having to get their own estimates.
Williams/Transco was 1000% at fault for this incident. They miscalculated the rate of corrosion in the lines, did not have a sufficient NDE process to detect the fault and the impact on the lines’ ability to hold pressure, and the explosion was a result.
No homeowner was in any way, shape or form at fault.
Williams/Transco is human, and humans make mistakes. They made one. They need to pay for it.
They dodged a HUGE bullet in that no one was killed. Twenty people could easily have been burned alive by this fireball, but circumstances were such that they were not. If they HAD been, Williams would have been Out Of Business.
So now they’ve got two houses to replace, five sets of medical bills to pay, and another 40 or so houses to settle damage claims with.
Why, then, all this foo-faraw with multiple estimates, and “Williams reviewing the claims” and all this legalistic nonsense? It makes Williams look like any other shady business that wants to nickel-and-dime their way out of an issue.
Here’s what they should do.
$750,000 each to the families of the destroyed houses.
$200,000 each to the people that went to the hospital.
$50,000 each to the people that had foundations cracked and roofs pierced.
Just send a man out to write a check and you’re done with it, your good name is restored, some level of trust is regained (though it will never all be back), and for $7,000,000 or so, you are well out of a problem that would have bankrupted you if the wind had been blowing differently that morning.
Bury the lawyers and bean-counters for a day and do the right thing.
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