Columbia Gas 'In Jeopardy' Of Missing Nov. 19 Deadline

LAWRENCE, MA -- Columbia Gas of Massachusetts conceded Tuesday that it may miss the Nov. 19 deadline to fully restore gas service to thousands of customers in Andover, Lawrence and North Andover who have been without heat or hot water since the Sept. 13 gas explosions. The admission comes less than a week after company officials disputed a Patch report that was the first to suggest the company would miss the deadline.

As of Tuesday, the company had nearly completed replacing 45 miles of underground gas transmission lines. But it had only completed work on 44% of the houses and businesses it needs to visit to prep them for the restoration of gas service. Last week Columbia Gas said it would repriortize its work schedule to make sure service to the elderly and other vulnerable populations was priortized as temperatures continue to drop.

"Some homes have required additional attention beyond the original scope to ensure these homes were safe for customers," Joe Albanese, the chief recovery officer for Columbia Gas, said in a statement. "There were various code issues, hazardous material issues, and other issues that have required our crews to spend several days longer than anticipated in some homes."

Albanese said Columbia Gas was attempting to bring more workers in. The company already has about 4,000 employees working on the recovery effort in the three communities. But to meet the deadline, Columbia Gas would need to restore service on a pace of about 200 houses per day.

"The pace is not fast enough to make the number," Larwence Mayor Dan Rivera told the Eagle-Tribune.

Last week Columbia Gas tipped its hand that it was falling behind schedule when its interactive map showed restoration dates for some residents after the Nov. 19 deadline. When Patch reported on the date changes, Columbia took its interactive map offline and said the later dates were the result of a data-entry error.

Columbia Gas further signaled that more residents could be facing prolonged periods without gas service when it said it would be bringing in more trailers to Lawrence to house residents who are waiting for gas service to be srestored. In addition to hundreds of trailers, the company has been trying to place families in hotels and apartments.

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File photo by Mike Carraggi/Patch.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).