Peoples Gas Hit with Class Action Over Alleged Concealment of Illinois Drinking Water Pollution

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Peoples Gas faces a proposed class action that alleges the company, parent WEC Energy Group and a public relations firm have conspired to conceal and misrepresent the scope of the contamination of an underground aquifer in rural Illinois. 

The 59-page lawsuit alleges that The Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company and WEC are responsible for discharges of natural gas and other combustible gases and hazardous chemicals into the Mahomet Aquifer, the sole source of water for east-central Illinois, from an underground storage facility in Champaign County. 

According to the complaint, the defendants have sparked a public crisis by exposing more than 10,000 Mahomet and Fisher, Illinois residents to water contaminated by natural gas. An image in the complaint purports to show that residents’ well and tap water is so contaminated that it is, or is at risk to become, flammable:

As the lawsuit tells it, Peoples Gas, rather than assume responsibility for the contamination, has taken a “tough luck” position. The case says the defendants, including the Broydrick Group PR firm, together have “exacerbated” the problem by not only misrepresenting and concealing its extent but failing to take remedial action to address the contamination before then “lying about it to cover up their misconduct.” 

The lawsuit states that the Mahomet Aquifer is one of the most important groundwater resources in east-central Illinois, underlying 15 counties and providing an estimated 220 million gallons of water per day for community, agricultural, industrial and rural use. Per the suit, the Environmental Protection Agency has designated the Mahomet Aquifer as a “sole source aquifer,” meaning that it is formally recognized as the sole or principal source of drinking water for residents across 15 Illinois counties and that no alternative sources for drinking water are feasibly available. 

According to the case, Illinois does not have any significant in-state natural gas resources, and Peoples Gas accordingly transports natural gas from Texas and other sources via interstate pipelines and injects it roughly 4,000 feet below the surface into a saltwater aquifer known as the Mt. Simon Sandstone. Peoples Gas and WEC then withdraw the natural gas stored in Champaign County and transport it via intrastate pipeline to Chicago, mostly during winter months, the lawsuit says. The case relays that Peoples Gas owns and operates the Manlove Natural Gas Storage Field, an underground storage facility in Champaign County that sits below the Mahomet Aquifer. 

The suit says that none of the natural gas stored by the defendants in Champaign County is distributed or used by consumers in the county. The lawsuit stresses that although Peoples Gas has easements or leases with various property owners below whose property the natural gas is stored, the company nevertheless is obligated to protect the water supply. 

According to the complaint, the contamination of the Mahomet Aquifer with natural gas stems from a 2015 “blow-out” of an injection/withdrawal well operated by Peoples Gas. The lawsuit alleges that although the last test of the well, in 1995, showed “significant corrosion,” Peoples Gas failed to perform additional mechanical integrity testing after that year. It wasn’t until December 2016 that Peoples Gas discovered gas bubbles percolating in a puddle of water at the surface level near the corroded well, the case says. 

The lawsuit goes on to state that Peoples Gas went on to hire Broydrick to perform crisis management and deal directly with affected homeowners in an effort to “limit accurate and necessary information” made available to the public at large. According to the case, a Broydrick employee contacted dozens of proposed class members under the guise of being a WEC employee who could offer help. In reality, the individual was working on behalf of the PR firm to gather intelligence on affected residents and forestall the consumers from taking legal action, the case claims. 

The suit looks to represent all persons who have lived or worked in the rural Mahomet, Illinois or Fisher, Illinois area at any time between October 28, 2015 and the present. The case also looks to cover all individuals who own property subject to a Gas Storage Grant – Oil and Gas Lease in rural Mahomet or Fisher at any time between October 28, 2015 and the present. 

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