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October 3, 2008

Lawsuit filed for PA pipeline explosion

By David Ball

PORT ARTHUR — Pearl Holmes, mother of 17-year-old Rico Mitchell, said her son became very congested following the Union Carbide/Texas Petrochemical, UCAR/TPC, pipeline explosion on Oct. 17, 2007 at U.S. 69 and 60th St. in Port Arthur.

“He was real congested. They (doctors) said it was allergies. Then it became a cold that never left. The doctor gave him stuff (medicine) and then he went to the hospital for a while, but it didn’t work,” Holmes said. “We brought him to Houston for his allergies to see a specialist and gave him all kinds of medicines. He never got well. Then he got pneumonia.

“He had a terminal neurological illness and he may have lived longer, but he was already sick from the beginning (after the explosion). His system was low already and he couldn’t fight it. Today (Friday, Oct. 3) is his birthday. He would be 17 today,” the mother said.

Austin attorney and Port Arthur native Ronnie Jones filed a lawsuit in the state district court in Jefferson County on behalf of 322 current and past property owners and tenants who suffered and sustained personal injuries of various severities or magnitudes due to the explosion.

“Effects have been devastatingly clear with a fatality of a 16-year-old male youth, who allegedly died from the explosion’s aftermath and 322 other residents who sustained personal injuries. State and local officials have released monitoring data and reports supporting the inclusive, adverse impact of the explosion,” a press release from the attorney read.

Jones said Mitchell grew progressively worse after the explosion and after a number of visits to the doctor until he died June 27, 2008.

“They live at the Stonegate Community adjacent to the pipeline and some live on the other side of the highway (plaintiffs). Some people are more sensitive to things than others are,” he said.

Jones said his office looked at the plaintiffs’ doctors medical information of the injuries reported, looked at the Material Safety Data Sheets and the main chemicals released such as butadiene, and had communications with teams of doctors including a specialist at UTMB-Galveston.

Jones also hired an air monitor expert along with air monitoring by the Port Arthur Fire Department while the explosion was ongoing.

On Oct. 17, 2007, the UCAR/Dow Chemical 6-inch pipeline carrying ethylene ruptured and fed a flame that could be seen for miles across South County. The blast damaged two Texas Petrochemical pipelines nearby.

Jones said both companies have been served. The next step in the legal process is discovery among all parties and a schedule set. If the case is not settled, then a trial date will be set.

The Union Carbide Lawyer has been contacted by Jones, but an agreement has not been reached.

“I’m hopeful the UC lawyer will call back and realize the better companies accept their responsibilities,” he said.

Holmes said her son was always smiling — all the way to the end.

“He had the (neurological) disease at 9-years-old and he couldn’t walk and talk. He was in a wheelchair at 10-years-old and on. He never complained; he just dealt with it.

“He could speak a little, but couldn’t complete a sentence. We didn’t know if he was hurting. It was all in his chest and he couldn’t cough it up. He couldn’t breathe. Three times he gasped for air and reached out to me, but there was nothing I could do. The doctors said he would eventually get in a vegetative state and die from the disease, but I never thought he would die from pneumonia. He suffered to the end,” Holmes said.

Representatives from Dow Chemical, UCAR’s parent company, did not return messages left by The News.

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