North Andover Officials Support State Gas Safety Bill

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — North Andover officials were among a large number of local officials who submitted testimony Tuesday in support of a gas safety bill before the state legislature. The bill would allow the state to fine gas companies $5 million per day of an outage if they are found to be at fault for poor maintenance, among other measures. Board of Selectmen Chair Richard Vailancourt and Town Manager Melissa Rodrigues submitted written testimony, while other area officials gave testimony in person, including the mayor of Lawrence and the Andover town manager.

"Senate Bill 1967 implements important safeguards and measures to make certain that gas companies are held responsible for both maintaining infrastructure, but also for more quickly repairing leaks in the infrastructure," Rodrigues and Vailancourt wrote. "It requires DPU to investigate who is working on inspecting the pipes, which is an important safety measure to have in place, especially in light of DPU’s most recent determination to get a third party audit of all the restoration work done in Merrimack Valley. Most importantly, it requires the gas company to create emergency plans, which is much needed in these situations. We are so proud of the work of our first responders and town employees during our gas emergency, but having advanced planning would have helped the town in so many ways."

The bill joins a collection of other gas safety-related bills before the state legislature, more than a year after the deadly gas explosions that killed one, injured 22, and damaged 131 structures across Andover, Lawrence and North Andover. The National Transportation Safety Board found that the explosions were caused by "weak engineering management."

Under S 1967, in cases where the NTSB or other federal entities find that a gas outage was caused by a company's failure to maintain infrastructure, the state could fine the company $5 million per day of outage. It also requires a company to refund a monthly bill if gas is out for more than 24 hours.

Additionally, it requires, “The department of public utilities shall create a task force comprised of representatives of the department and each of the gas companies in Massachusetts to create emergency response plans specific to all foreseeable causes of a gas pipeline failure. Such plans shall be updated at least every three years and as necessary to remain in compliance with generally accepted industry best practices and any relevant guidance from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.”

"The recovery has been slow, reactive and seemingly never-ending,"Rodrigues and Vailancourt wrote. "We have residents who are still rebuilding their homes, restoration work that is still being completed, road reconstruction that will take years, compliance checks that are resulting from a lack of meeting the requirements set forth by DPU, the scare of additional leaks and the continual stress of residents and businesses who have been impacted."

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at chris.huffaker@patch.com and 412-265-8353.