It took about 72 hours for the aftershocks from the tragic gas line explosions in the Merrimack Valley to reverberate through Beacon Hill and onto the campaign trail for the corner office.
Days after a series of explosions rocked the Merrimack Valley last week, Gov. Charlie Baker's Democratic opponent is warning that the state's Department of Public Utilities is leaving the rest of Massachusetts vulnerable to similar catastrophes. Gonzalez told reporters Monday he's worked with locked-out National Grid employees who have warned DPU officials that temporary workers are committing safety violations.
"There's been a total lack of urgency on [DPU's] part to respond to these safety violations, about ten of which by the way, involve concerns of over pressurization of the system. The exact same problem that is being reported as the problem in the Merrimack Valley incident," Gonzalez said.
Baker says the DPU is responding.
"DPU takes safety complaints tremendously seriously and responds to them on an individual basis but also as a regular protocol that utilities are expected to follow," Baker said.
Gonzalez also said there are not enough DPU inspectors to adequately monitor the state's gas pipeline system.
"There are eight inspectors responsible for overseeing over 21,500 miles of gas line infrastructure in this state. That is 2,700 miles for each inspector. That is the same distance between Baltimore Maryland and San Francisco, California," Gonzalez said.
Baker said the agency is adding another four inspectors to bring it up to the level of prior administrations, adding he'll follow the results of a federal investigation to seek damages from Columbia Gas, the provider in the Merrimack area.
"We expect Columbia to step up in a big way," Baker said.
