Pennsylvania PUC helps Massachusetts with gas line restorations
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) is deploying personnel from its Gas Safety Division to Lawrence, Massachusetts to assist with service restoration efforts following the Sept. 13 natural gas line explosions.
Gas lines for 39 homes exploded in the Lawrence, killing one person and injuring 25. The explosions were caused by over-pressured gas mains owned by Columbia Gas. Roughly 30,000 residents were forced to evacuate their homes, and gas and electricity service for thousands of customers was disrupted.
Crews of Columbia Gas have been working over the past few weeks to repair and restore gas lines by Nov. 19.
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency requested assistance from the Pennsylvania PUC for additional natural gas engineering inspectors who are certified through the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration. The PUC responded by sending two engineers to assist Massachusetts response teams regarding service shut-offs and incident investigation.
“In the aftermath of this tragedy, the experience and expertise of our Gas Safety personnel can be of tremendous value in helping with the ongoing investigation and recovery from a devastating series of gas line explosions,” PUC Chairman Gladys Brown said. “While our engineers are providing assistance, they also are gaining valuable insight into mass outage management, operator qualification of workers from other states, and investigation information associated with this outage that, in turn, we can share with Pennsylvania’s natural gas public utilities.”
