Massachusetts State Police Fast-set epoxy blamed for collapse was state-approved.

A Suffolk County (Mass.) Grand Jury indicted Powers Fasteners, Brewster, N.Y., Aug. 8 on a single count of involuntary manslaughter for the death of 38–year–old Melina Del Valle who died July 10, 2006, when 52,000 lb of concrete ceiling panels and hardware fell from the Interstate 90 tunnel ceiling onto her car. The move may be the opening salvo in an ongoing criminal investigation and Powers' attorney immediately moved to have the state attorney general removed from the case because of conflict of interest.

The I–90 tunnel is part of the $14.8 billion Central Artery/Tunnel project. Del Valle's death sparked an intensive investigation of CA/T infrastructure by a number of federal and state agencies that culminated in a hearing one year later by the National Transportation Safety Board. NTSB determined that fast–set epoxy proven incapable of supporting sustained loads was used to hold the anchor bolts in place. Powers supplied the epoxy to distributor Newman Renner Colony (NRC), Canton, Mass., under a private label.

"We are stunned beyond belief," said Jeffrey Powers, president of Powers Fasteners. "The only reason that our company has been indicted is that unlike others implicated in this tragedy, we don't have enough money to buy our way out." Powers claims it did not know fast–set epoxy was used for the anchors in the 200–ft portal section even though two of its employees were at the site when anchor creep problems first started causing concern in September and October 1999. Powers supplies standard–set and fast–set epoxy under different color labels but not NRC. Standard–set did pass creep tests but fast–set did not. Powers assisted NRC in getting the Powers line and the NRC line placed on the Massachusetts Highway Dept. qualified construction materials list in April 2000, one month after tunnel finishes were completed. MHD did not differentiate between the two types of epoxies.

An arraignment date has been scheduled for Sept. 5 in Suffolk Superior Court. According to the AG's office, a corporation convicted of involuntary manslaughter could be fined up to $1,000 without jail time. But a conviction establishes liability for civil wrongful deaths suits. No individuals were named in the indictment.

Following the indictment, Powers' attorney Max Stern moved to disqualify state Attorney General Martha Coakley and her assistants from prosecuting Powers because of an "irreconcilable conflict of interest." Stern notes that even as Coakley advances her criminal investigation, her office is also trying to reach a financial settlement with other parties involved in the collapse. "They are simultaneously prosecuting Powers Fasteners and also representing both the Commonwealth and the Massachusetts Highway Department in a parallel civil action seeking cost recovery from Powers, and they stated, the criminal prosecution will help the civil recovery case," says Stern.

According to Coakley, "Powers has known since at least 1991, when it first began marketing its Power–Fast Fast–Set epoxy, that the fast–set product was unsuitable for sustained loads based upon the corporation's own creep testing. However, consistently since 1991, Powers' marketing materials did not differentiate clearly between the two Power–Fast products, nor did they mention the fast–set products susceptibility to creep."

NTSB criticized Powers for providing "inadequate and misleading" information to the CA/T. In a follow–on Aug. 3 letter to Powers, NTSB states "Only in May 2007, more than 10 months after this accident, did Powers revise its product literature to indicate that the Power–Fast Fast–Set epoxy should be used for short term loads only." NTSB recommended that Powers revise it's packaging to state explicitly that fast–set is approved for short–term loads only.

NTSB also criticized CA/T project consultant Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, New York Cuty, and ceiling designer Gannett Fleming, Harrisburg, Pa., for failing to identify and account for potential anchor creep in the design. Tunnel contractor Modern Continental Construction Co, Cambridge, Mass. was cited for failing to monitor anchor failures after pullouts and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which manages the CA/T, was named for failing to implement a timely tunnel inspection program that could have revealed the problem before the accident. "Today's indictment charges that Powers had the necessary knowledge and the opportunity to prevent the fatal ceiling collapse but failed to do so, and that this wanton or reckless conduct resulted in the death of Melina Del Valle," states the AG's office.