Pipeline settlement reached

By Elizabeth Murtaugh

Associated Press

SEATTLE – The families of two boys killed in a 1999 pipeline explosion in Bellingham said Wednesday they have settled with Olympic Pipe Line Co. and its co-defendants for $75 million.

The parents of 10-year-olds Wade King and Stephen Tsiorvas vowed to spend much of the money to fight for pipeline safety reform and fund other charitable endeavors. Their lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial April 22 in Whatcom Superior Court.

“There can be no happy ending to a tragedy like this, but our firm believes that holding corporations accountable makes America stronger and results in more safety for the public,” Paul Luvera, an attorney for the families, said at a news conference in downtown Seattle.

The boys’ parents choked back tears as they stood before a pair of poster-sized photos of their sons. “It’s a rough day for me, despite the fact that we got $75 million, whatever that means,” said Tsiorvas’ mother, Katherine Dalen. “I don’t have my son.”

Tsiorvas and King were playing near Whatcom Creek when the pipeline ruptured, spilling more than 236,000 gallons of gasoline along Whatcom Creek in Bellingham on June 10, 1999. They died of severe burns as the fuel exploded in a fireball, also killing 18-year-old Liam Wood, who was overcome by fumes and drowned while fishing.

Wood’s family settled separately and was not part of the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Tsiorvas’ and King’s families.

The lawsuit, which contended that the boys’ deaths resulted from negligence, named as defendants Renton-based Olympic; one of its owners, Houston-based Equilon Pipeline; former Olympic chief manager Frank Hopf; two other high-level employees, Fred Crognale and Ron Brentson; Los Angeles-based Atlantic Richfield Co., which owned the gasoline in the pipeline at the time; and IMCO General Construction Co., a Bellingham company that Olympic claims dented the pipeline during excavations in 1993 and 1995.

The defendants did not admit liability as part of the settlement, but in a written statement, Olympic Chairman Lawrence B. Peck said, “We again express our deepest sympathy to the families. We are mindful of the tragic circumstances that occurred that day, and are committed to ensuring that nothing resembling this incident ever happens again.”

The settlement came less than two weeks before the case was scheduled to go to trial in Whatcom County Superior Court. Olympic spokesman Dan Cummings refused to say how much of the settlement each defendant would pay or how much might be covered by insurance.

Olympic, Equilon and two officials also are awaiting trial in U.S. District Court on federal criminal charges of violating clean-water and pipeline-safety laws.

Now operated by BP Pipelines North America, Olympic is jointly owned by BP and Equilon, a Shell Oil Co. subsidiary. Its 400-mile pipeline system carries gasoline, jet fuel and diesel from Whatcom and Skagit county oil refineries south to Seattle, Portland and elsewhere.

David Beninger, one of the families’ lawyers, criticized Olympic and others for what he characterized as systematic safety lapses.

“These corporations that run refineries, that run pipelines, continue to cut corners until it costs lives,” Beninger said.

The lawsuit alleged that Olympic knew from a 1996 test that there were nearly 300 defects in its pipeline from Ferndale to Portland, including a half-inch-long gouge where the pipe burst, but deferred many repairs.

It also claimed the company neglected to repair a faulty valve station in Skagit County which caused pressure to build up in the pipeline each time it failed.

“There will be some things we never know,” Beninger said, “because some people are still taking the Fifth Amendment.”

Wade King’s father, Frank King, said his family was disappointed there was no trial, but felt the size of the settlement would serve notice “that ordinary people will no longer sit back and allow these companies to be unaccountable for their actions.”

King added, “Please, don’t forget our son, my little buddy, or Stephen Tsiorvas or Liam Wood.”