Two major West Virginia utilities are headed for a courthouse battle over responsibility for the gas outage in Charleston that began on Nov. 10. There is a fight happening over who pays for the damage that took place when a broken water main apparently flooded 46 miles of gas service lines. Mountaineer Gas has filed suit against West Virginia American Water, alleging the utility failed to prevent the pipe from rupturing and was slow to discover the leak. The suit also accuses the water company of failing to notify Mountaineer Gas of the issue or make repairs in a timely manner. Eyewitness News reported that West Virginia American Water continues to reiterate that any speculation on the cause of its water main break or the Mountaineer Gas outage is premature until an investigation is complete. A Public Service Commission investigation into the cause of the outage is incomplete.