NiSource Parent Linked to Past Explosions

Incorporated in 1974, the Company is one of seven natural gas distribution companies that are subsidiaries of NiSource, a holding company listed in Merrillville, Indiana.

NiSource shares fell Friday, closing at 11.7% to $ 24.79, a day after peaking at 52 weeks.

According to Mr. Bryant, Columbia Gas distributes natural gas to approximately 321,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in three areas of Massachusetts located in Lawrence, Springfield and Brockton.

NiSource's combined utility business serves approximately 3.9 million customers in seven states and operates approximately 60,000 miles of distribution pipelines.

The Massachusetts tragedy has once again attracted public attention to the safety of pipelines and the companies that own and maintain them. Through its subsidiaries, NiSource has had links to at least three gas pipeline explosions in three states over the past six years, including another explosion in Massachusetts.

Explosion in Springfield, Massachusetts

In November 2012, an explosion in the Columbia Gas of Massachusetts service line injured 21 people and destroyed a strip scores club building in Springfield, a city west of Boston. The explosion has severely damaged a dozen buildings nearby and blown up windows in others.

NiSource said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that the gas service line had been breached and an explosion had occurred, "while Columbia of Massachusetts was investigating the source of a gas smell."

Andrea Luppi, spokesperson for Columbia Gas in 2014 The republican, a Springfield-based newspaper, said the company had paid millions of dollars to settle 84 percent of claims filed by 832 people and companies.

Luppi acknowledged that the Springfield tragedy was the most expensive incident in the company's history at the time, the news agency reported.

The settlements included an agreement of $ 650,000 to reimburse the city for property damage and other expenses. The utility has also agreed to provide a $ 200,000 grant to the city for planning and urban renewal efforts.

More money: The Massachusetts governor declares the state of emergency after lethal natural gas explosions, orders various public services to restore service

However, some residents and businesses in Springfield who suffered the damage from the explosion sued Columbia Gas.

Julio and Evelyn Edwards, a local radio station, and an ecclesiastical organization filed a federal lawsuit in 2015 alleging that the Edwards family members were homeless, while the companies were unable to function for months. They claimed $ 1.5 million in collective damages.

Mark Mastroianni, District Massachusetts District Court Judge, dismissed the case in 2016 on technical issues. The plaintiffs mistakenly identified the utility in the lawsuit as Columbia Gas of Massachusetts.

The appropriate legal entity is the Bay State Gas Company (doing business under the name Columbia Gas of Massachusetts). In addition, the Federal Court was not competent because the company and the plaintiffs were all established in Massachusetts.

Russell Shaddock, the owner of the building that had housed the Scores Striptease Club, filed a separate lawsuit in 2014 in Hampden Superior Court, asking Columbia Gas for damages of $ 1 million. of dollars. The republican reported that a public service spokesman had stated that Shaddock had not accepted the regulations offered by the company.

On Friday, Shaddock did not answer a phone message asking for comments on the case.

Explosion of a pipeline in West Virginia

In December 2012, an interstate gas pipeline operated by Columbia Gas Transmission, another subsidiary of NiSource at the time, exploded in Sissonville, West Virginia.

According to a report from the National Transportation Safety Board, the high-pressure gas exhaust from the 20-inch pipeline sparked a fire that destroyed three houses in the sparsely populated area. The blast also propelled a 20-foot section of pipe to more than 40 feet from its original location, the report says.

Two Columbia Gas operating staff members, who were repairing a leak on a production pipeline about 4.75 miles from the accident site, said "that they could hear the roar of the gas released, "adds the report.

The rupture of the pipe was part of a pipeline segment installed in 1967, according to the report.

The NTSB concluded that the probable cause of the failure was external corrosion of the pipe wall due to deterioration of the coating. In addition, the report stated that the electricity company had not detected corrosion "because the pipeline had not been inspected or tested after 1988".

Explosion of a pipeline in Ohio

A release of natural gas from an "incorrectly abandoned" service line was at the origin of an explosion and fire in March 2015 in a report on the disaster. Upper Arlington.

The report focused on the shares of Columbia Gas of Ohio, a subsidiary of NiSource.

Staff of the state regulatory agency concluded that the gas line had been installed in a house at Sunningdale Way in 1960 and had been decommissioned between 1985 and 1997. However, the conduct did not occur. Has never been unplugged and sealed. the report says.

"Columbia Gas has not followed their operation and maintenance procedures" with respect to the gas line, the regulator concluded.

The explosion occurred after Columbus Water Department employees went home to disconnect the water service in anticipation of plumbing work planned on a water leak. The workers mistakenly opened the gas valve housing during work, according to the report.

As a result, the gas passed through the abandoned gas line, the house and the neighborhood. An employee of the US Postal Service reported a "strong smell of natural gas" when the mail was delivered on March 21st.

However, the warning arrived too late to avoid the explosion and fire.

In 2016, the Ohio Public Utilities Board approved an agreement requiring Columbia Gas of Ohio to pay a $ 200,000 fine, improve record keeping and improve the scope of security in the service territory public service.

Request for a rate increase

In addition, Columbia Gas is pursuing a request for an increase in the price of gas filed in April by the public utility service of Massachusetts. The initial increase in the proposed distribution rate of $ 44.5 million was reduced to $ 33.2 million in an interim settlement agreement filed on September 5.

The approval of the state regulator is required before rate increases can be imposed on utility customers.