BOSTON – A gas company accepted responsibility Wednesday for a deadly series of natural gas explosions that rocked Massachusetts in September 2018, agreeing to pay a $53 million fine and end its operations in the state in a plea deal reached with the U.S. Justice Department.
The Sept. 13, 2018, gas explosions, caused by over-pressurized pipes underground, killed one, injured 22 and damaged more than 100 homes and buildings in the Merrimack Valley communities of Lawrence, Andover and North Andover. Although the company"knew the severe risks of over-pressurized gas pipelines," CMA failed to maintain any centralized record-keeping, including in its own electronic mapping system, for the location of underground regulator control lines that monitor pressure.
"This is like relying on informal communications to run a nuclear reactor or man and airplane," he said. CMA, he added, also"repeatedly ignored" opportunities to ensure information about the control lines in Lawrence was transferred to personnel.class-action lawsuits from explosion victims last summer for $143 million
She called it a"warning to others" they have a"solemn obligation to make safety their highest priority." NiSource is bound to the agreement by the threat of indictment, and must also enforce the implementation of all NTSB safety standards at all subsidiaries it owns, including gas companies in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Kentucky and Virginia.
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