Plains All American Pipeline has reached an agreement with Highland residents to settle claims arising from a 2015 oil spill that contaminated Silver Lake.
U.S. District Judge Staci Yandle gave the parties until March 7 to consummate the undisclosed settlement.
Magistrate Judge Gilbert Sison previously held a settlement conference on Dec. 21. Attorney John Driscoll appeared on behalf of plaintiffs Cheryl Morr and David Medlock. Attorneys David Schott and Lewis Sutherland appeared on behalf of the defendants. After more than six hours, Sison wrote that the case did not settle. The parties were given until noon on Dec. 24 to accept the mediator’s proposal.
Then on Jan. 4, Yandle wrote that the case had settled. A joint stipulation for dismissal was filed on Jan. 31.
The complaint was originally filed on Feb. 15, 2017, by Highland residents Kevin Nodine, Morr and Medlock. Then Morr and Medlock filed an amended complaint through Driscoll on Dec. 20 against Plains All American Pipeline, Plains Pipeline and John Does 1 through 10. The John Doe defendants are corporations or partnerships of the Plains defendants.
Nodine dismissed his claim in 2018.
The complaint seeks damages and other redress arising from the Plains All American Pipeline oil spill that occurred in and around Highland in 2015. The plaintiffs allege a pipeline fitting burst at one of the pump stations near Highland due to “negligent and reckless conduct,” causing crude oil to contaminate the surrounding area.
“The oil contamination caused real and lasting effect on plaintiffs’ properties and environment. While defendants made a public apology for the oil spill, they have not compensated the plaintiffs a single dime for the damages defendants them (sic) as a result of the oil contamination,” the suit states.
According to the complaint, a pipeline fitting ruptured or failed at the Pocahontas Pump Station near the border of Bond and Madison Counties on the morning of July 10, 2015. The incident caused over 4,000 gallons of crude oil to spill into the surrounding waterways in and near Highland, including the creek adjacent to Medlock’s property. The oil also spilled into a lake from which Highland residents and the surrounding communities of Grantfork, Pierron and St. Jacob derive their drinking water.
A private citizen allegedly discovered the ruptured pipeline fitting at 7:44 a.m. and reported the oil spill through an emergency hotline.
The suit states that the pipeline was equipped with a defective leak detection system that failed to set off any alarms when the oil spilled into a containment dike. The defendants allegedly became aware that erosion caused leakage between a drain pipe and a catchment berm of the containment dike about eight days before the oil spill. The defendants allegedly failed to immediately repair the leakage.
On the day of the oil spill, rainwater was flowing into a 12-mile drainage ditch near the the Pocahontas Pump Station. As the rainwater flowed into the ditches, the crude oil also flowed from the impaired containment dike into the ditches that led into Little Silver Creek and then into Silver Lake.
The suit states that the defendants attempted to close the main pipeline valve upstream of Pocahontas but were unsuccessful. Instead, they closed the valve farther upstream at Kaskaskia in an attempt to stop the crude oil from spilling.
After the oil spill, Silver Lake was closed for recreational uses for approximately 12 days. The U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) shut down the Pocahontas pipeline. They found that if the facility continued to operate, it would be hazardous to life, property and the environment. They also ordered the defendants to take corrective actions to protect the public, property and the environment in connection with the oil spill.
The suit states that a Root Cause Failure Analysis found that the defendants “not only had a pattern and practice of shoddy safety and maintenance procedures on their pipelines, they had knowledge that the failure to properly maintain their pipelines creates a substantial threat of a discharge of oil that can cause damage to plaintiffs and the environment.”
The plaintiffs allege that the oil spills are “clear examples of defendants putting profit over safety at the expense of innocent people and wildlife” because the defendants failed to properly maintain and inspect their equipment.
“The 2015 Highland oil spill has and will continue to have a detrimental effect on the surrounding environment, wildlife, and properties of the plaintiffs. The release of thousands of gallons of crude oil into Silver Lake caused harm to plant and animal communities, soil and groundwater, surface water and sediments, land use, and property values,” the suit states.
In their complaint, the plaintiffs seek unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, which they say “are plainly warranted because defendants engaged in wanton or reckless conduct when they failed to make the necessary repairs that would have prevented the resulting spill and/or failed to maintain the pipeline in a safe manner after having prior knowledge of the leakage in the containment dike and the failed closure to the main line valve.”
They also seek attorney’s fees, pre and post-judgment interest and injunctive relief.
“Plaintiffs have no adequate remedy at law for the injuries that will result from failure of the defendants to safely operate their pipeline and pump station and it could be impossible for plaintiffs to determine the precise amount of damages they will suffer if defendants’ conduct is not restrained,” the suit states.
The plaintiffs had sought to certify the case as a class action, which Yandle denied in October.
“The fact that a spill occurred is, by itself, not sufficient to justify including everyone who lives or owns property in the vicinity of the oil spill path in the class,” Yandle wrote.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois case number 3:17-cv-163