A senate committee will hold a field hearing Monday to review the local, state and federal response to the Sept. 13 gas explosions that devastated the Merrimack Valley, leaving one person dead and more than two dozen injured.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will convene at the South Lawrence East Middle School Gymnasium, according to a press release, and will feature Sens. Ed Markey, Maggie Hassan and Elizabeth Warren, as well as Rep. Niki Tsongas, Rep. Seth Moulton and Congresswoman-elect Lori Trahan.
Also scheduled to speak are the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the president of Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, the president and chief executive officer of NiSource, which is the parent company of Columbia Gas, the mayor of Lawrence, and others.
The NTSB earlier this month issued a report finding that Columbia Gas had used a "field engineer ... for the development of design and engineering modifications to the pipeline system." This engineer, the NTSB found, was not a licensed professional, and the board stated it "is critical that an engineer with the appropriate qualifications and experience" be in charge of these plans.
Had Columbia Gas had appropriate precautions in place, the utility "could have immediately addressed the issue and mitigated the consequences of the event," the report reads.
Read more: Transportation Safety Board Says Columbia Gas Could Have Prevented Merrimack Valley Fires
"[NiSource] has identified, and moved ahead with, new steps to enhance system safety and reliability and to safeguard against over pressurization,” the company said in response to the NTSB's report.
The hearing comes less than a week after thousands of Merrimack Valley residents spent Thanksgiving without heat in their homes, many convening for communal celebrations with food paid for by Columbia Gas. While some businesses and houses have begun to regain gas, many are still waiting, including businesses seeking compensation for losses they have faced.
Read more: With Temperatures Dropping, Merrimack Valley Residents Still Lack Heat, Weeks After Gas Fires
Almost a dozen lawsuits have been filed against Columbia Gas of Massachusetts and NiSource, claiming negligence. The utility, however, may be protected from being sued by state protections buried in legal language in the agreements between all of Massachusetts' gas utilities and the Department of Public Utilities, which regulates them.
Gov. Charlie Baker has called for a new state law in response to the gas fires that "would mandate that certified professional engineers be required to sign off on all serious natural gas work," according to the Boston Globe.
The hearing can be watched live online at the senate committee's website.
