State to conduct review of gas blasts
Audit of 5 years of incidents stems from latest deaths
As investigations continue into the three gas-related explosions in the last three months, the state Department of Public Utilities decided yesterday to review the blasts that have occurred in the last five years, a reaction to concerns that the state's gas infrastructure is outdated and a threat to safety.
The department's review is a precaution and is meant "to make sure that there isn't some sort of pattern that we should be concerned about," said Robert Keough, a spokesman for the state's Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, which oversees the DPU. He stressed that the department has no reason to believe there is a trend.
The department is reviewing three explosions that have killed two people and seriously injured another over the last three months. A suspected gas explosion that killed a man in Manchester, N.H., this week is also under investigation.
The incidents should serve as "warning flags," for officials to scrutinize the state's gas infrastructure, with roughly 20,000 miles of pipeline aging and in need of repair, Stephen Connors, director of analysis at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative, told the Globe last week after an explosion killed a woman and her dog in Somerset.
The state has had 12 gas explosions in the last five years, beginning with an explosion in Sudbury on Jan. 13, 2004.
Between 1998 and 2008, 323 people died and 1,341 were injured nationwide as a result of gas leaks or explosions, according to the US Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
Of those, six people died and 12 were injured as a result of leaks and explosions in Massachusetts.
DPU officials released a statement yesterday saying that the review will include a look at past investigations and the causes and locations of gas-related explosions.
The review is expected to occur in the next few weeks, and the findings will be made available to the public.
David Graves, a spokesman for National Grid, which provides service to Gloucester and to Manchester said yesterday that he had not heard of the DPU review and could not comment on it.
He said in a separate interview that the recent explosions have increased the public's awareness of the dangers of gas leaks.
He encouraged customers to call 800-892-2345 immediately if they have concerns and not to touch anything.
State law requires utility companies to respond to reports of a gas leak within an hour.
