[S]tate regulators have asked the Public Service Board to fine Vermont Gas $150,000 for alleged safety violations they say took place over the summer.
While welding pieces of a 41-mile natural gas pipeline extension, Vermont Gas contractors failed to properly ground the pipe sections, according to Department of Public Service Commissioner Chris Recchia.
The pipeline’s proximity to a Vermont Electric Co-Op power line meant that magnetic currents given off by the power line could energize the pipeline as it was under construction, through a phenomenon called “induced current,” Recchia said.
The company agreed previously to follow strict rules governing how to prevent the electrical hazards, Recchia said, but those procedures appear not to have been followed. The company may have mitigated these dangers through other means, but those were not approved by the state, he said.
“There are other state-of-the-art techniques that can deal with [induced current], but they’re not in [Vermont Gas’s] procedure,” Recchia said. “They’re required to follow their procedures until they change them.”
Company representatives were notified multiple times that their methods appeared to violate proper procedure before the Department of Public Service asked for sanctions against the company, Recchia said.
Vermont Gas representatives said that the company is “laser-focused on safety” and noted that the utility has about 20 inspectors working to ensure safe practices as construction proceeds.
“We disagree with the department on some of the things they allege, but we appreciate that they share our concerns about safety,” said Vermont Gas spokeswoman Beth Parent. “This is something we take very seriously and we’re going to work with the department to make sure we come to some sort of resolution.”
Parent said Vermont Gas and the Department of Public Service plan to meet before the company files a response to the complaint the department filed with the Public Service Board, and said that both entities will attempt to reach a resolution without the board’s involvement.
The department has asked the Public Service Board for an extension for Vermont Gas’s response until October 10, Parent said.
The threat of live electricity flowing through pipeline sections was not merely theoretical, Recchia said.
“We have measured some induced voltage in the pipeline ourselves,” Recchia said.
The pipeline should have at no point had voltage flowing through it were correct procedures followed, Recchia said. The current posed a threat to workers as much as it did to the general public, he said.
The pipeline sections that had been energized are now buried, Recchia said, and no longer experience induced current. The buried pipeline poses no threat of conducting electricity, he said, and the alleged safety violation had to do only with the procedures followed while constructing it.
The department requested last month that the Public Service Board levy a $150,000 fine against Vermont Gas for the alleged violation.