It’s what you’d expect them to say.
In the five years before a sports utility vehicle struck Energy Transfer’s pipeline in Deer Park and caused a massive explosion and fire, pipelines operated by the company and its affiliates had been damaged by vehicle collisions at least five times.
That’s what Houston Landing found in a two-part investigation published in December that revealed the Deer Park crash was part of a wider national safety issue that has involved at least 36 pipeline collisions across the United States since 2019.
A lawsuit filed by four people who live and work near the explosion site, accuses Energy Transfer of negligence in failing to protect its pipeline against the September 2024 SUV crash. The company, the suit alleges, “was already on notice of the danger of automobiles crashing into above-ground valves, as well as the resultant risks of explosion, fire, and exposure to noxious chemicals.”
Energy Transfer, in its response to the lawsuit, denies the allegations and has asked a Harris County court to order paragraphs be stricken from the residents’ lawsuit that detail the company’s and industry’s history of pipeline collisions.
The suit contends the Deer Park pipeline structure should have had at least concrete or metal barriers because it was next to heavy traffic along Spencer Highway and near a busy Walmart parking lot. Instead, the suit says, it “was surrounded only by a flimsy chain-link fence.”
Spokespeople for Energy Transfer did not respond to emailed questions and requests for an interview or comment. Brett J. Young, an attorney representing Energy Transfer in the lawsuit, said he couldn’t answer Houston Landing’s questions because of the pending litigation.
In records filed with the court on April 17, Energy Transfer has asked for the court to dismiss the case.
The company also has asked the court to order that 19 paragraphs be stricken from the lawsuit’s original petition. Eleven of these paragraphs involve details about the frequency of vehicles colliding with pipelines and the residents’ allegations that the company failed to have adequate barriers around its above-ground pipeline structure in Deer Park.
Energy Transfer says the claims in these paragraphs, among other issues, are not allowed by law because the company had no duty to control the conduct of an outside individual. Two hearings in the lawsuit scheduled to occur in person and by Zoom at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. on June 9 in 55th District Court.
The company describes itself as the victim of a criminal act, an injured party whose pipeline was destroyed by the SUV driver, Jonathan McEvoy, who “chose to end his own life by intentionally crashing his automobile through a barrier fence and into an above-ground natural gas piping system,” court records say.
Energy Transfer contends that the risk of McEvoy’s suicidal act was “clearly not forseeable” and that other pipeline collisions, such as those cited in the lawsuit, were not “similar.” The company’s manager of regulatory affairs, Justin Davidson, said in a sworn statement he had no personal knowledge of any similar event, “meaning one where a motorist intentionally struck and [sic] Energy Transfer pipeline riser.”
See here, here, and here for some background. I must have missed the news of the suit being filed, I don’t have a post about it. This here is just the defense counsel doing their jobs, trying to knock down parts of the plaintiffs’ case. I personally don’t find it convincing, but I’m not the judge. We’ll see how convincing the court finds it.