The Oklahoma Corporation Commission has approved a $1.01 million settlement with a natural gas utility in connection to a January house explosion.
Authorities said a faulty weld in a plastic natural gas pipeline led to the Jan. 2 explosion in an Oklahoma City neighborhood. One person suffered burns and two people were treated for breathing problems.
The settlement with Oklahoma Natural Gas Co. was approved on Nov.3. The utility agreed to the settlement but didn’t admit to guilt, according to the Journal Record.
The commission’s pipeline safety division found the company failed to conduct surveillance on eight similar pipeline leaks, failed to investigate the cause of those leaks and failed to perform the proper survey the day before the explosion. The report also found that the pipeline system had leaks dating all the way back to 1983.
As part of the settlement, the utility agreed to examine its entire pipeline network throughout Oklahoma. Commission pipeline safety manager Dennis Fothergill said the utility company’s staff found more than 200 locations in Oklahoma that needed to be investigated.
Commission chairman Bob Anthony said in other states when pipeline safety laws were ignored, people had died. ONG operations vice president Kent Shortridge said employees received additional training courses, and that the utility company is committed to the safety of their system.
Topics Oklahoma
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