The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Conn. officials await word on Mass. blasts
A series of gas-line explosions that killed one and forced hundreds of people out of their homes Thursday in three eastern Massachusetts communities has left local officials wondering as to the cause and what could be learned from it.
Gas industry officials maintain the natural gas delivery network is safe, but they are awaiting the results of the investigations into the cause or causes of the fires in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover, all north of Boston.
Meanwhile, state officials say they have the resources to handle a similar event here.
Brenda Bergeron, a spokeswoman for Connecticut’s emergency management department, said plans are in place at state and local levels to handle a major gas explosion and fire. Those plans, she said, are mandated by the state Public Utility Regulatory Authority and involve the state’s gas companies, local first responders and state emergency management personnel.
“PURA is monitoring what likely took place,” Bergeron said. “I’ve talked to Eversource and they have sent mutual aid teams to Massachusetts.”
The Associated Press reported the Massachusettts explosions were responsible for more than 60 fires, a death and about 25 injuries.
Bergeron said each year PURA conducts 450 site inspections of gas lines and related facilities in Connecticut, and plans to modify, build new ones or upgrade lines are filed with PURA before work is done.
“(The utilities) design and construct the pipelines,” Bergeron said.
“And we have gas pipeline safety units,” she said. “A plan is in place if something happens. Everyone knows what they are going to do in an emergency.”
Occasional trouble
Bill Akley, president of Eversource, the energy supply company for most of Connecticut, said the state’s network of gas delivery pipes can be trusted.
“Our top priority is the safety of the public, our customers and our employees, and while we are sending support teams, we continue to retain the resources we need to serve our customers,” Akley said.
“Our systems are not connected to the Columbia Gas system (the supplier in the Massachusetts markets damaged by Thursday’s explosions) and continue to operate safely,” he said. “We have a comprehensive maintenance and inspection program, and we have an effective leak-management program that exceeds the requirements of federal and state pipeline safety regulations.”
He said Eversource crews “conducted a safety standdown (Friday) morning” to review gas operating procedures.
“We are always evaluating new procedures, technologies and industry best practices to perform at the top standards for the industry,” Akley said.
Although gas is seen as relatively safe, particularly when viewed through the lens of the 72 million natural gas customers nationwide, sometimes serious accidents occur.
People in Derby still talk about the Dec. 7, 1985, event in which gas seeped into the sewer line of a three-story building. River Restaurant occupied the first and second floors.
Residents complained about smelling gas that afternoon and just before 4 p.m. an explosion destroyed the building, killing six people. The restaurant owner’s adult son was badly injured and nine other people were sent to hospitals.
Hundreds of people living in the blast area were evacuated while authorities looked for the cause of the leak. They later found a construction crew repairing a sewer main had punctured a gas line. Nothing was left of the building.
On Feb. 7, 2010, a gas explosion instantly killed five workers at the Kleen Energy Systems power station under construction in Middletown. A sixth worker died later from burns. The explosion was caused by the use of natural gas to clean pipes at the plant; this practice has since been deemed unsafe by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.
On March 3, 2012, a gas explosion destroyed a house on Howard Avenue in New Haven and damaged neighboring homes.
This year on June 12, a gas explosion badly damaged a home in Norwalk. No one was injured in that incident, including a woman who was five months pregnant.
Under pressure
According to PURA, about 30 percent of the homes and businesses in Connecticut have natural gas service. Gas mains are usually run underneath streets and they can be anywhere from 2 to 20 inches in diameter.
Lines from the streets to homes and businesses are usually between a half-inch and 4 inches in diameter.
Pressures vary widely along the distribution system. The line from the street to homes carries relatively low pressure, about 0.25 to 5 pounds per square inch. Principal distribution lines can carry pressures as high as 750 pounds per square inch, or about 20 times the pressure of automobile tires.
A spokesman for Avangrid, the parent company of Southern Connecticut Gas Co. and Connecticut Natural Gas Co., said the company would not comment on the Massachusetts explosions until more is known about the cause.
Still, the industry maintains the gas distribution system is safe and is getting safer. A website for the American Gas Association says natural gas utilities spend more than $22 billion annually to enhance the safety of natural gas systems.
About 7,900 miles of distribution mains serve 440,000 gas customers in Connecticut. The industry is installing new plastic lines at a rate of 30,000 miles per year, which it maintains is the safest way to go and will last for decades.
Three major gas transmission lines serve Connecticut:
⏩ Algonquin Gas Transmission: Originates in New Jersey, where it connects to the Texas Eastern Pipeline and runs from Danbury northeast to Thompson, with major spurs to North Haven and New London. The Texas Eastern Pipeline originates near the Gulf Coast of Texas.
⏩ Iroquois Gas Transmission System: Starts at the Canadian border, enters Connecticut at Sherman and runs southeast through Milford, then offshore to Long Island. This pipeline originates in eastern Canada.
⏩ Tennessee Gas Transmission: Starts in Texas and Louisiana. It enters Connecticut in Greenwich, runs northeast, leaving Connecticut in Suffield, with a spur from Massachusetts to Torrington.