Criminal Trial Set To Begin Against Xcel Energy

DENVER (CBS4) - A criminal trial is set to begin Tuesday in which Xcel Energy and its parent company, Public Service, are charged in connection with the deaths of five workers.

The workers died when a fire broke out at Xcel's Cabin Creek hydro-electric plant above Georgetown.

A judge has barred family members of the victims from wearing pictures of their loved ones into the courtroom. Xcel has also asked that no pictures of those who died be shown during the trial because it could inflame the passions of the jury.

Nobody denies it was a terrible tragedy. Now the question is if the deaths were caused because Xcel violated workplace safety rules.

The five workers died when a fire broke out in a pipe called a penstock which they were recoating. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board recreated the scene in an animated video. The government maintains Xcel did not post proper danger signs, did not properly evaluate the hazards, or develop procedures for rescuing people inside.

Xcel places the blame elsewhere.

"The fact is we didn't know the contractors were bringing in such a large unthinkable amount of chemical into the penstock," Xcel attorney Cliff Stricklin told CBS4 in August of 2010. "Had we known that we would have stopped it."

Xcel tried to block the release of a 180-page report by the Chemical Safety Board calling it highly incitive before a jury trial. That report was released last August as tearful family members watched. It was highly critical of the utility.

Xcel has claimed there was a lack of Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines.

The trial is expected to last about four weeks. If found guilty Xcel faces up to a $500,000 fine on each of five counts.

RPI Coating of California and two of its employees are also charged. No date has been set for their trial.