Firm Partners to Address AFPM General Counsel Forum
October 14, 2021
Firm partners Mark Farley, Jeff Haffner, and Devon Downs will address the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) General Counsel Forum and discuss Major Incident Response in the mid-stream energy industry sector, including investigations by NTSB into pipeline releases.
Major industrial accidents (e.g., fires, explosions, and toxic releases) create a legal perfect storm that can pose significant challenges for even the most sophisticated organizations. The presentation will discuss the primary legal issues implicated in a major accident including issues such as communication and stakeholder engagement, on-site documentation and evidence preservation, witness interviews, information requests, document productions, and internal investigations. The firm’s partners have directed the response to some of the largest industrial accidents in the United States. They are experienced in incidents occurring both in chemical manufacturing and energy (upstream, midstream, and downstream). Most recently, they are working on multiple governmental investigations into a catastrophic explosion and fire in the HF alkylation unit at the largest refinery on the east coast; a vapor cloud explosion at a chemical manufacturing plant in Port Neches, Texas; and a third-party strike on a 16” propane pipeline in the Inner Harbor of the Corpus Christi Ship Channel that resulted in the loss of a vessel and multiple crew member fatalities.