Nearly a month after an explosion at a downtown Fort Worth hotel injured nearly two dozen people, cleanup has finally begun at the site.
Investigators initially said a natural gas leak is believed to have prompted the Jan. 8 blast at the Sandman Signature Hotel, 810 Houston St., but a cause has not been officially determined. As lawsuits piled up against the owners of the building, its gas provider and others, court orders blocked crews from removing debris, or possible evidence, from the explosion site.
Atmos Energy Corp., which distributes gas to most of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, has said it has found “no indication” of its equipment or gas lines being involved in the blast.
Still, the explosion has placed the gas distribution company under increasing scrutiny as it faces mounting litigation from about a dozen people who suffered injuries. Atmos Energy has asked a judge to absolve the company of blame.
“We intend to fully investigate what is causing these explosions,” said Jesus Garcia Jr., an attorney and founding partner with Kherkher Garcia, which filed two lawsuits in January against Atmos Energy in gas-related explosions.
Fatal blasts at or near Atmos lines
Prior to the Sandman blast, at least six structures had exploded near Atmos-owned distribution lines throughout North Texas since early 2019, according to records from the Railroad Commission of Texas. Two people were killed and at least a dozen people were injured in those blasts. Atmos was not found at fault in any of these incidents. The state found that these half-dozen explosions were either caused by a leak on the portion of the gas line for which the customer is responsible; no leak was detected; or the leak occurred in a neighboring area.
In an August 2022 explosion of a house in Garland, two people were killed and another five were hospitalized. According to records, a leak was found on customer-owned portions of the gas lines near the home. Another house explosion in Plano in July 2021 sent six people, including three children, to the hospital. Records noted that no gas leak could be found.
The Railroad Commission does not have jurisdiction over customer piping, only on utility portions of pipelines, spokeswoman Patty Ramon has said.
In some of these cases, Atmos did, however, abandon or replace service lines near residences where an explosion occurred.
In two other explosions, one of which was fatal, that occurred near Atmos gas lines, the state cited the company for violations.
A Dallas Morning News 2018 investigation identified at least two dozen explosions that killed nine and wounded at least 22 others across North and Central Texas, with Atmos failing to shut off gas or evacuate residents before people were injured or killed.
When asked in January about the company’s pipeline safety efforts, an Atmos spokesperson pointed to its 2022 corporate responsibility and sustainability report. According to the report, in the 2022 fiscal year, the company directed about 88% of its capital spending toward “the continued modernization of the safety and reliability” of its distribution, transmission and storage systems.
It said company employees completed about 94,000 hours of safety training that year. In emergency situations, company officials wrote, Atmos emergency responders follow a four-step procedure: determine hazard, extent of hazard, protect life and protect property.
The Railroad Commission of Texas, a state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, issued citations, which the commission calls “alleged violations,” to the company in two other incidents: a 2021 explosion at an Atmos facility in Farmersville that killed two hired non-Atmos workers Deric Tarver and Ethan Knight and a November 2020 fire near Highland Park High School that injured two Atmos employees.
The Farmersville blast took place while employees with Fesco Petroleum, Bobcat Contracting and Atmos were conducting maintenance on a pipeline using an in-line inspection tool, also known as a “pig.” Tarver’s family filed a lawsuit over the explosion. Atmos, Bobcat and Fesco were named as defendants.
The suit, which also included Knight’s family, recently was settled for an undisclosed amount, Garcia said.
The Railroad Commission’s cited Atmos for a lack of written procedures for operations, maintenance activities and emergency response; and a failure to replace unsafe sections of the pipeline. In the incident near the high school, a fire started when Atmos employees were repairing a damaged service line, and the state cited the company for a similar offense involving written procedures.
In 2021, the commission fined Atmos $1.6 million for its role in the 2018 death of a 12-year-old girl, Linda “Michellita” Rogers, after her home in northwest Dallas exploded. The National Transportation Safety Board said natural gas leaked from a main that was damaged during a sewer-replacement project 23 years ago. After the gas accumulated, it ignited, the agency said, causing the blast.
State and federal investigations later revealed that the company had ignored warning signs, including identification of a leak two months prior to the girl’s death and two other explosions at nearby homes in the days leading up to the fatal blast. In the days afterward, Atmos found at least 28 leaks throughout the neighborhood.
The company was required to submit a corrective action plan addressing several missteps, including:
- Its failure to train workers to identify and investigate leaks
- It’s failure to train workers how to conduct surveys in high-risk areas
- The lack of procedures to monitor its distribution system for corrosion and other maintenance needs
- Using technology that was not designed for the weather conditions
The year after the girl’s death, Atmos settled a lawsuit with her family for an undisclosed amount.
‘Human lives are at stake’
Generally, gas leaks occur in distribution systems nationwide because “the infrastructure is old,” said Abe Scarr, energy and utilities program director for U.S. Public Interest Research Groups. The News’ investigation, Time Bomb, found at the time that Atmos had some of the oldest pipelines in the country, leaving them vulnerable to corrosion and cracks.
At the time in Dallas, there were 400 miles of cast iron pipes, typically the oldest and prone to leaks because of their age. In 2019, Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 866, proposed by Dallas Democrat Rafael Anchía, that required pipeline operators to remove all cast-iron pipes from their systems by the end of 2021. An Atmos spokesperson said all known cast iron pipes in the utility’s system were removed that year.
John Jose, the managing partner of the Fort Worth office for Slack Davis Sanger, said leaks can occur due to problems with the utility portion of the gas lines, the gas meter or the customer-owned portions.
“Standard practice is that pipelines are jurisdictional to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration or the state’s pipeline safety program up to the (gas) meter,” said Bill Caram, executive director of Pipeline Safety Trust, a national watchdog group. “Sometimes the meter is inside a building, but often is outside.”
According to the 2018 investigation, the company has settled at least a dozen lawsuits filed by families affected by explosions, and the legal scrutiny continues to pile up. Since 2019, the company has settled at least two (one related to Rogers’ death and one related to Tarver and Knight’s deaths).
On Jan. 20, Carrollton fire department officials responded to an explosion at a home that left a man with severe burns. The man and his wife are suing Atmos Energy, alleging “negligent, careless and reckless disregard.” The lawsuit also accused the company of having a poor safety record and failing to implement policies to reduce serious gas pipeline incidents.
In a statement, Garcia said the law firm, which is representing the couple, hoped the legal proceedings would “uncover why this is happening so often in homes, major commercial buildings, and other sites when Atmos Energy is the natural gas distributor.”
“We will force Atmos Energy to re-evaluate how they conduct business, ensuring they are proactive in identifying potential deadly issues and not just reactive once a tragedy occurs,” he added. “Corners can never be cut when human lives are at stake.”
