Con Ed Finally Owns Up For Steam Pipe Blast

The hot weather of July feels like a mirage to our winter weather of late December, but for one steamy day on Lex and 41st, the steam pipe explosion that occurred is still etched into the minds of thousands. At first Con Edison took no responsibility and tried to hamper an investigation into the cause of the blast, but public outcry let it continue. Now that five months has passed, a new report sheds light on their role in a blast that killed one woman and injured dozens, one of them so severely he was put into a coma so that he would not feel the pain of the burns.

From The Daily News:

Con Edison crews pumped the epoxy into a nearby leak four months before the July 18 blast, but no one noticed some of it seeped into the "steam trap" valve - leading to catastrophe when the 20-inch steampipe filled with water.

"It's a combination of clogged traps and elevated water levels underneath the ground," Con Ed spokesman Michael Clendenin said last night. "We think the clog was from an epoxy resin that was used to seal a flange."

The clump of resin led to a catastrophic condition called "water hammer." That blew the 87-year-old pipe wide open at E. 41st St. and Lexington Ave.

This development should open the floodgates to lawsuits against the utility giant from all of those that were affected by the blast, whether it was bodily injury or loss of income by the area's businesses. They definitely deserve it and while spokesman Michael Clendenin says that over a thousand traps were investigated and that they found no other problem, why should we believe him or his employer? The lawyer of the two badly-injured victims doesn't trust them, and neither should the rest of us.

Sounds like it is time to demand an independent investigation.