Pueblo leader suggests gas failure behind elder woman's death

Friday, February 11, 2011  

An elderly woman from Ohkay Owingeh in northern New Mexico died on the reservation during a massive gas outage that left many residents fuming.

Joe Garcia, a tribal council member and former president of the National Congress of American Indians, said the woman may have died of exposure to the cold. "The culprit was New Mexico Gas Company," he said at a heated public meeting on Thursday, The Albuquerque Journal reported.

Thousands of residents on and off reservations in the Espanola and Taos area were affected by the outage, which occurred during a wave of severe winter storms.

Get the Story:
Lashing Out at Gas Company (The Albuquerque Journal 2/11)
Hundreds affected by natural-gas shortage pack Española forum seeking help, answers (The Santa Fe New Mexican 2/11)