Ex-Transportation secretary to oversee safety review after natural gas explosions

LAWRENCE, Mass. (AP) — Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood will help oversee efforts to improve safety and reduce risk at NiSource, the utility company blamed for natural gas explosions and fires in Massachusetts six months ago.

The Indiana-based company announced Thursday that the former Republican congressman from Illinois will chair a new five-member board charged with reviewing the company’s rollout of a new safety management system across the seven states it serves.

As transportation secretary under Democratic President Barack Obama, LaHood oversaw the Pipeline and Hazardous Safety Administration that regulates natural gas and other pipeline systems.

NiSource, which is the parent company of Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, said the new safety system will provide a more structured and consistent way for it to anticipate and reduce risk.

Similar systems are standard in the nuclear power and aviation industries, but aren’t common in the natural gas industry, according to Joe Hamrock, the company’s CEO.

“The safety practices we have tend to focus on learning from incidents that have happened, versus anticipating incidents that might happen,” he said by phone Thursday. “So it’s about enhancing that and adding a lot more rigor.”

Federal investigators have said NiSource and its Massachusetts subsidiary lacked the internal proce-