Probe: Bad connection caused blast
Explosion killed UGI worker and destroyed 2 homes in Lancaster in 2017
Federal investigators say a poorly installed natural gas connection is likely to blame for a 2017 explosion that killed a UGI Utilities worker and destroyed two Lancaster County homes.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a report issued Monday that the faulty connection let gas seep into the house in Manor Township, near Millersville.
Authorities say a locking sleeve used to connect the “tapping tee” to the gas main was not attached to the main. The unattached locking sleeve put stress on four nylon bolts, and two of those bolts fractured.
The explosion on July 2, 2017, killed 54-year-old UGI employee Richard Bouder and injured three other workers — two from UGI and one from the Lancaster Area Sewer Authority. Besides leveling one home, the gasfueled explosion significantly damaged six neighboring homes,one of which was condemned.
The NTSB report said the agency “does not assign fault or blame for an accident or incident” and that law prohibits such reports in civil lawsuits “for damages resulting from a matter mentioned in the report.”
UGI, which sells gas in the Lehigh Valley, said in a statement Wednesday that it cooperated fully with the NTSB and — during the incident and afterward — “complied with all regulatory requirements regarding the safe and reliable operation of company facilities.”
The company, which is based in Lancaster County, has undertaken several safety initiatives, including “training opportunities” for fire department and other first responders and expanding employee safety awareness.
The NTSB investigates pipeline accidents in which there is a death, substantial property damage or significant harm to the environment.
UGI's role in the accident remains under investigation by state regulators. In October, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission's Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement filed a civil lawsuit asking for more than $2 million in penalties against UGI, alleging numerous violations of gas safety regulations.
The company filed a heavily redacted response denying all of the commission's charges. The case is before a PUC administrative law judge, a commission spokesman said Thursday.
UGI, a subsidiary of Fortune 500 energy company UGI Corp. of King of Prussia, sells gas in 45 counties. UGI's territory includes Allentown, which was the scene of a 2011 gas explosion that killed five people, caused the evacuation of hundreds of others, and leveled half a block of row homes.
In the Allentown explosion, investigators determined that blast likely was the result of weather-related cracking in a nearly century-old cast iron pipe. Natural gas leaked from the pipe, was caught under the frozen ground and seeped into the basement of one home. UGI paid the maximum fine at the time for the explosion at 13th and Allen streets — $500,000. Legislation in 2012 raised the maximum penalty for natural gas explosions to $2 million, which is the amount the PUC is demanding in the Lancaster County case.
asalamone@mcall.com 610-820-6694 The Associated Press contributed to this story.