PHMSA Issues New Gas Utility Pipeline Regs to “Improve Safety”

Columbia Gas of Massachusetts (NiSource) never quite recovered from a series of explosions in September 2018 that occurred with its local delivery pipelines north of Boston (see Local NatGas Pipes Explode Near Boston Killing 1, Injuring 25). The explosions and resulting fires tragically killed one teenager and injured 25 others. It left some 8,600 households and businesses in the Merrimack Valley without natural gas for months. Several class action lawsuits were filed against the company, which got settled for $143 million (see Columbia Gas Pays $143M to Settle Lawsuit from Mass. Explosions). The company reached a plea deal to (a) sell the company and (b) pay the largest criminal fine ever imposed under the Pipeline Safety Act (see Columbia Gas of Mass. Sentenced to $53M Fine, Probation, Sell Co.). The Biden Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is using the Merrimack Valley episode to float a raft of proposed new regulations that will supposedly ensure the safety of millions of miles of local natgas delivery pipelines.

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