Romanucci & Blandin has been actively involved in the Ford City Mall natural gas explosion for quite some time now. In that occurrence, many people were injured when a natural gas pipeline ruptured in the Ford City Mall parking lot. Having personally inspected the scene several times after the explosion, it looked nothing short of a war zone. Quite frankly, it appeared as if a bomb had been dropped into the parking lot. as the cause and origin of that explosion is yet to be determined and the litigants are deep into discovery, it would be inappropriate to comment at this time what we feel is the cause of that particular explosion.

However, this most recent incident underscores that this State and this country are facing a crisis in their aging infrastructure. In the Waukegan incident, it has been reported that a main ruptured. Mains are not supposed to rupture unless they are so old that they cannot handle the pressure of the gas in the main or they are being ill-maintained. Either way, we have a problem and it will not be fixed unless we get our butt out of Iraq and stop spending the money on a war we will never win and spend that money here at home fixing our infrastructure and education system. OK. Enough said. Thanks for listening.