RESIDENTS DRIVEN FROM HOMES ASSAIL GAS CO.
Q&A sessions decried as ‘media stunt’
In town halls one disgruntled and displaced resident called a “media stunt,” confusion, inconsistency and lack of communication were complaints leveled against Columbia Gas executives at open houses in Andover, North Andover and Lawrence yesterday. Residents took part in a question-and-answer session with NiSource and Columbia Gas representatives. They opened with an update on gas line status, relights, claims and temporary housing before taking questions from the community. Desiree McDonough, a North Andover resident who has been living in a trailer with her husband and three young children, spoke up at the meeting to say Columbia’s reimbursement and food stipend plan has created “haves and have-nots” in the community. “This food stipend — some people get it, some people don’t,” said McDonough, who told the Herald she lost her food stipend after moving into the trailer. “Columbia Gas is doing a terrible job of communication and a terrible job of treating us equally,” said McDonough. “These Q&As are nothing but a media stunt.” Joe Albanese, the chief recovery officer present at yesterday’s meeting, said Columbia Gas is ahead of schedule to meet its new Dec. 16 restoration deadline and he is “pleased” with the company. “I couldn’t be more impressed with Columbia and NiSource’s response to all of this,” said Albanese. “There are so many success
stories that I hear every single day.” According to Columbia Gas’ daily briefing, 42 percent of residential meters have restored gas service, 60 percent of business meters have been restored and over $50 million dollars in claims have been paid out as of Friday. Carolina Mane of Lawrence told executives she has to stay in her home “like a statue” waiting for workers who show up unannounced to make repairs or do assessments. “To be honest, I think they need to be more organized. It’s crazy. Nobody has the answers,” said Mane. She has been staying in a hotel for the last 45 days with her husband and three teenage children. “It’s terrible. My routine has changed a lot for me and my kids and my husband. It’s very difficult right now,” said Mane, who plans on spending Thanksgiving in the hotel. Pablo Vegas, the chief restoration officer, told residents yesterday that Thanksgiving meals will be prepared for pickup along with some sit-down locations to eat during the upcoming holiday. He said they are “writing the book as they go” when it comes to creating solutions for house mitigation and pipeline restoration. “This is really a very unique situation there’s really never been something quite like this before,” said Vegas. “We have good emergency response capabilities but this was on a scale that nobody in the industry had seen before.” “Time is our enemy here — and the weather — if this was August it would be a whole different story,” added Albanese.