HOUSTON (AP) - Two landowners near Houston are accusing a major interstate gas pipeline of being responsible for the deaths of 40 trophy deer at a breeding facility.

The Houston Chronicle reports Liberty County landowners Monty Mullenix and Greg Buford recently filed a lawsuit alleging that Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. released methane and other toxic gases on their properties during emergency shutdowns along the natural gas pipeline route near Cleveland.

Buford owns the Grande Whitetails breeding facility near the Sam Houston National Forest. He claims the white-tailed deer started dying shortly after the emergency releases.

Buford says the deer are each worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline's parent company, Kinder Morgan, denies that the emergency releases killed the deer and blames the deaths on a virus.

Information from: Houston Chronicle, http://www.houstonchronicle.com

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