CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A class-action lawsuit alleges both West Virginia American Water Company and Mountaineer Gas are to blame for a natural gas outage that has impacted more than 1,100 residential customers and businesses on Charleston’s West Side.
The gas went off last Friday after the pressure from a water main break pierced a low pressure distribution gas line causing that line and connecting lines to fill with thousands of gallons of water.
Charleston attorney Dante diTrapano, whose law offices are on the West Side, said it was important to file the lawsuit as quickly as possible.
“In order to give people of the West Side some comfort that somebody was doing something for them besides, which is important, bringing them heat and bringing them food and whatever they need now, they would have some chance at having some compensation for what’s happened to them in this instance,” diTrapano said.
The lawsuit alleges both utilities were negligent.
“You had the lines running together and it looked like the pressure awful high and it doesn’t look like Mountaineer Gas was very prepared for what went on here,” diTrapano said.
The lawsuit will cause the truth to come out, diTrapano said.
“I just do think that it’s important to get to what actually happened and when you get people under oath and talk about what actually went on at the moment when this thing occurred you get to the bottom of it,” diTrapano said.
Mountaineer Gas continued to work Wednesday to clear water from 46 miles of lines. Service has been restored to more than 200 customers. Senior Vice President Moses Skaff told MetroNews earlier this week the filling of the lines with water was unlike anything he’s seen in 32 years in the natural gas business.
In a statement released Wednesday, Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin said Mountaineer Gas had committed to credit customers’ bills in the future.
“Mountaineer Gas Company assured me that residents will see credits on their bills, although residents may not see the credit until a future bill due to the billing cycle.” Goodwin said.
She added that the company was employing plumbers to restore service to appliances.
“Please be patient as the contractor and gas company work through the fix. Likewise, please do not attempt to turn your gas back on – Mountaineer Gas will restore gas to each home. If you are not home, a door hanger will be left for you with contact information and instructions on how to reach the gas company to restore your service,” Goodwin said.
diTrapano said he believes some appliances may have to replaced.
“I believe it will be a bigger problem than it even looks like now because there’s going to be more long-term effects to people’s appliances and different things that haven’t been thought of now in terms in what has to be replaced,” he said.
diTrapano is urging residents of the West Side to save any receipts connected to damages associated with the outage.
Charleston attorney Jesse Forbes is co-counsel for the plaintiffs.