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PUC releases revised settlement proposal in 2019 house explosion

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A revised settlement between state utility regulators and Columbia Gas over the July 2019 house explosion near Washington has been released after a previous proposal was rejected last year.

Just like the earlier proposed settlement, the new one also includes a $990,000 civil penalty against Columbia along with several other stipulations in an attempt to prevent a similar explosion that destroyed one house in North Franklin Township and injured several people.

The state Public Utility Commission’s five-person board voted unanimously April 20 to publish the proposed settlement and request comment from the public before deciding whether to finalize the agreement. The public comment period is expected to open Saturday after it’s published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, and the window for submissions will be open through the end of the month.

The original proposed settlement was made public in July, but the PUC ultimately rejected it in December, prompting more changes after the commissioners raised several questions. The new joint settlement between Columbia Gas and the PUC’s Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement was reached in February.

The bulk of the settlement requires Columbia Gas to make substantial changes in future pipeline projects. While both settlement proposals included various directives in order to correct issues to prevent future incidents, the current one also asks for an estimated timeline for completion of each of those actions and for an accounting of the financial damages caused by the explosion. It also asks whether or not the company’s ratepayers are responsible for the financial liability.

The company took immediate responsibility for the incident the day after the explosion on July 31, 2019, that destroyed the house at 100 Park Lane and damaged numerous other nearby properties. According to the settlement, the company’s Dewey Avenue Replacement Project did not identify that house as being affected by the pipeline upgrades, so it did not properly regulate the flow to the Park Lane residence, causing it to fill with gas and then explode. Five people, including three firefighters, were injured from the explosion.

The homeowner, Deborah Braden, later sued Columbia Gas in federal court asking for $400,000 in damages. She and her homeowner’s insurance company, State Farm, settled out of court with Columbia Gas for an undisclosed amount of money in April 2021, according to federal court documents. A new house has since been built on the same property.

Details of the PUC’s proposed settlement will be advertised in Saturday’s edition of the Pennsylvania Bulletin asking for public comments from interested parties. Those who would like to comment have until the end of the month to submit statements at www.puc.pa.gov/filing-resources/efiling. Once that process is completed, a final decision will be made on the settlement.

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