Atlanta Pipeline Company Sued Over Fatal 2016 Explosion
A plume of smoke rises from the site of an explosion on the Colonial Pipeline on Monday, Oct. 31, 2016, in Helena, Ala. The wife of one of the contract workers killed and a man injured in the blast are suing Colonial in state court in Fulton County.
Brynn Anderson / Associated Press
The widow of a man killed in an October 2016 pipeline explosion in Alabama has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Georgia-based pipeline operator.
The explosion of Colonial Pipeline’s main gasoline line near Birmingham killed two workers and injured others.
The wife of one of the contract workers killed and a man injured in the blast are suing Colonial in state court in Fulton County.
They claim an inspector didn’t show up for work the day of the explosion but told crews to continue excavation on the line anyway. That work eventually led to the explosion.
Crews were working on the pipeline to fix a major leak that had previously caused gas shortages across the southeast.
Earlier this year, Colonial reached a $3.3 million settlement with Alabama for environmental claims related to the leak and subsequent explosion.
The two incidents released more than 11,000 barrels of gasoline, according to the Alabama Attorney General’s Office and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.
A spokesman for Colonial said the company was limited in its ability to comment on the allegations in the lawsuit because because of an ongoing investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
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