Uncovered documents may be trouble for oil company.In late November 2003, 190 boxes of documents covered in burlap bags were uncovered 45 feet below ground near a pipeline in the New Mexico New Mexico, state in the SW United States. At its northwestern corner are the so-called Four Corners, where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah meet at right angles; New Mexico is also bordered by Oklahoma (NE), Texas (E, S), and Mexico (S). desert. The documents, along with 100 computer disks, were covered with mold and mildew mildew, name for certain fungi and protists, for the diseases they cause in various crops, and for the discoloration (and sometimes the weakening and disintegration) they cause in such materials as leather, fabrics, and paper. and have been sent to a Fort Worth company to be cleaned and, possibly, restored. But what they may reveal could put the Texas-New Mexico Pipeline Co., a Shell Oil subsidiary, in hot water. The documents allegedly contain information about the operation of the pipeline and environmental damage caused by an oil spill oil spill: see water pollution. in the early 1990s. Certain assets of the pipeline company were sold to Enron Corp. in 1999 and are now owned by Houston-based EOTT EOTT Eye of the Tiger EOTT End of Toll Trunking EOTT Enron Oil Trading & Transportation Energy, formerly an Enron affiliate. The documents, found after an eyewitness disclosed that he had seen boxes of documents being buried in 1999, just before the company was sold to EOTT, have been confirmed to be thousands of pages of information that was missing from the Texas New Mexico Pipeline Co.'s archives. An EOTT spokesperson told the media the boxes contain information about pipeline operations, maintenance, environmental data, and financial, accounting, and personnel records. Residents of Midland, Texas Midland is the county seat of Midland CountyGR6 located on the Southern Plains of the western area of the U.S. State of Texas. As of the 2006 U.S. Census estimate, the city had a total population of 102,073. , filed suit against EOTT in 2001, claiming that their well water was contaminated contaminated, v 1. made radioactive by the addition of small quantities of radioactive material. 2. made contaminated by adding infective or radiographic materials. 3. an infective surface or object. by oil from a pipeline leak. EOTT settled with the residents and then sued Shell to recover costs of the settlements and remediation. EOTT argued it did not own the pipeline at the time of the incident and was unaware of any potential environmental problems when it acquired the company. The newly discovered records could change the course of the litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. and result in more legal woes for Shell. New Mexico District Attorney Thomas Rutledge told the Houston Business Journal that his office will take legal action if it appears that the pipeline company buried the documents to hide or destroy criminal evidence. If the company did indeed try to cover up environmental problems or hide significant information from shareholders, the public, or potential buyers, it could have violated federal securities laws as well as federal and state environmental and pipeline regulations. A Shell spokesperson told the Houston Business Journal that the documents are simply "office refuse" that was disposed of in a pre-existing hole. |
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