COLUMBIA GAS SET TO FEEL SENATORS’ HEAT
Meeting in Lawrence over blasts, response
Columbia Gas executives will be in the hot seat today when federal officials demand answers about the cause and response to a string of explosions that erupted in the Merrimack Valley over two months ago, leaving thousands without heat or hot water in their homes.
“We need answers and accountability,” U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) told the Herald. “The company has already missed its November deadline for restoring all service and now they’ve created a December timeline. We’re going to ask tough questions about how Columbia Gas is going to meet that deadline because Christmas is coming and the depths of winter are arriving with it.”
Markey, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, is convening the full committee hearing titled “Pipeline Safety in the Merrimack Valley: Incident Prevention and Response,” along with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) today. Also participating in the hearing is U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), a member of the Commerce Committee, and U.S. Reps. Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell) and Seth Moulton (D-Salem).
“I look forward to hearing directly from Columbia Gas President Steve Bryant and NiSource President and CEO Joe Hamrock about the steps they are taking to rebuild public trust, to guarantee the safety of their consumers, and to prevent another tragic accident like this from ever happening again,” Tsongas said, calling the disaster “entirely preventable.”
The hearing will focus on what Tsongas characterized as a “series of critical missteps by Colombia Gas” that resulted in explosions and fires across Lawrence, Andover and North Andover on Sept. 13, killing a teenager, injuring more than two-dozen others, damaging more than 100 structures and causing “widespread panic and fear in the hours after the accident,” Tsongas said.
Matt Corridoni, Moulton’s spokesman, said he is focused on finding out “why this happened” and “how we can make sure impacted residents are back in their homes and businesses are up and running
as quickly as possible.”
Family members of Leonel Rondon, the teenager who was killed by a home explosion, will speak at the first hearing today, scheduled at the South Lawrence East Middle School Gymnasium. Lucianny Rondon, Leonel’s sister will provide brief remarks at the start of the hearing and will be accompanied by her mother, Rosaly Rondon.
“We’re having this hearing because we’re not satisfied,” Markey said. “We want Columbia Gas and the federal regulators to explain to the people of the Merrimack Valley, how did this happen? Why were the warnings not heeded and why has it taken so long to repair the damage which has been done?”
Several other hearings on the gas disaster are coming up on Beacon Hill before the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy. An oversight hearing on the natural gas infrastructure in Massachusetts is scheduled for Dec. 11. Another hearing, at a date to be determined, will be held in the Merrimack Valley once the restoration process is complete and residents have returned to their homes.
“The goal in mind is to educate — what should we be doing, what needs to happen and where could the commonwealth be doing a better job on oversight of all gas lines throughout the commonwealth?" state Rep. Thomas A. Golden Jr. (D-Lowell), co-chair of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, said of the upcoming hearings.
Victims of the gas disaster who cannot attend today’s Senate hearing can submit testimony to the committee under the “contact” tab on Sen. Markey’s website.