Livermore company is fined $100,000 for ruptured gas lines

A Bay Area utility contractor will pay $100,000 in civil penalties after rupturing gas lines 15 times in five years and failing to report their activities to utilities, according to prosecutors.

A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge ordered the penalty Wednesday after an investigation that began back in 2017, when the Milpitas Police Department first reported a slate of incidents at MCH Electric construction sites.

While working on various infrastructure projects, the company repeatedly ruptured gas lines — including those along major roadways — and used backhoe equipment closer to gas and electrical lines than legally allowed, prosecutors said.

Workers also allegedly failed to tell utilities of their plans to dig near gas lines within the required two days and did not dial 911 immediately after a gas release, according to the complaint, and the company did not train them in proper excavation notifications and practices.

Through a joint investigation, the Santa Clara County and Alameda County district attorney offices uncovered malpractice across sites in the South Bay and East Bay.

In one incident, an operator with the company caused a gas leak along the sidewalk of Montague Expressway for an hour, forcing the closure of the roadway during rush hour, prosecutors said.

“Trenching near underground utility lines is dangerous,” said supervising Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Bud Porter. “We believe that the majority of these incidents are preventable.”

The case is one of the first to be prosecuted under the state’s 2016 Dig Safe Act, which set a legal framework around underground infrastructure practices like excavation and drilling. Representatives for the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.