Frank Lautenberg: “I would like to stand with the Majority Leader not only in affirming the importance of pipelines to our national…”

“I would like to stand with the Majority Leader not only in affirming the importance of pipelines to our national transportation infrastructure, but also as a personal witness to the damage that a pipeline accident can have on victims of pipeline eruptions, and particularly to the community. Four years ago, around midnight, on March 24, 1994, a major natural gas pipeline ruptured in Edison, New Jersey, a densely populated, urban environment. This rupture caused a deafening boom, awakening residents of the Durham Woods apartment complex. Seconds later, a plume of fire and gas shot hundreds of feet above the ground. Thankfully, the more than one thousand residents fled their homes, all leaving before the explosion leveled the Durham Woods apartment complex. I visited the site after the blast. I saw how the explosion incinerated cars, playground equipment and trees. Over one hundred people suffered injuries from the fire. One woman died from a heart attack. It was a miracle that nobody else died from that disaster. Four years later, the victims still suffer emotionally and physically. Some are still awaiting settlements. They escaped with their lives but their lives are not the same. A state grand jury determined that the disaster probably was tied to damage caused earlier by unauthorized excavation which weakened the pipe, causing it to explode.”