RAGE AGAINST GAS CO.
Gov, Lawrence mayor decry response to crisis
With the south side of Lawrence a ghost town, Gov. Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency and put another gas company in charge while Mayor Daniel Rivera unloaded on Columbia Gas for what he called a torturously slow response to the explosions and blazes.
Baker declared a state of emergency in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover and handed Eversource the job of making repairs to get faster results, he said.
“Today, on a number of very significant issues, we heard one thing and something else happened,” Baker said with Rivera by his side. “The performance relative to those representations was so far below what was talked about this morning, it raised major issues in our mind, about the leadership team’s ability to deliver.”
Rivera was more blunt. “I’ll be damned if we’re going to wait another six hours for them to get off their ass,” he said yesterday of the gas company.
“I want to get people back off the street,” Rivera added. “I feel people’s pain. I’m just determined to change the direction of what’s going on.”
Columbia Gas President Steve Bryant defended his company, saying they had been doing all they could.
“We’ve been using all our resources to get this project as far down the road as possible,” Bryant said. “We’ve advanced this as rapidly as it could be advanced. I don’t think anybody could be further along.”
In another press conference several hours later, Baker said his confidence in the restoration work had increased after Eversource took control.
“We just spent an hour going over the plans for the next 24 to 48 hours,” Baker said.
Bill Ackley, president of gas operations for Eversource, said the company would be doing door-todoor through the night and into today making sure 8,000 homes are safe to return to and the gas has been turned off. Still, he said it could be “weeks” before gas service is operating again.
There were more than 150 calls for the gas leaks, fires and explosions across Lawrence, Andover and North Andover that killed 18-year-old Leonel Rondon and injured many more. In Lawrence yesterday, the southern part of the city was nearly deserted, with only occasional vehicles on the roads beyond those of first responders. Row upon row of homes, gas stations, restaurants and Dunkin’ Donuts shops stood dark, empty and locked after power was shut off.
Buses with evacuated residents cut through the silent streets from time to time, bringing residents to their homes to collect medications and other essentials. Like a scene out of an apocalyptic movie, lines of residents trudged through the city on foot carrying belongings in suitcases, garbage bags and anything else they could use, slowly making their way across a bridge where police cars, lights flashing, prevented traffic from entering the area.
Merrimack Valley residents prevented from coming home said the lack of answers and communication were starting to grate. Diana Duran, who couldn’t yet return to her South Lawrence home, frustratedly wondered out loud as she sat on the curb outside the Red Cross shelter at North Andover High School:
“Are they kidding me? How can this even happen?” she said.
Heather Pierce said, “It shouldn’t happen” at all.
The investigation is being headed by the National Transportation Safety Board.