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The
proposed class action lawsuit targets NiSource and its
subsidiary Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, which services
Andover, North Andover and Lawrence, three communities northwest
of Boston that staged large-scale evacuations following the
Thursday afternoon blasts that killed one person and injured at
least 25.
The lawsuit in Essex County Superior Court is the first to be
filed after Thursday's explosions. It claims the gas pipeline
system used by Columbia Gas to service those communities was
"poorly maintained, antiquated, obsolete, and highly dangerous."
Merrillville, Indiana-based NiSource did not respond to a
request for comment. It has set up set up a phone center and an
office to accept residents' claims for property damage and costs
related to the fires and evacuation.
The lawsuit said the company failed to implement reasonable
safety and leak prevention practices and failed to replace
obsolete high-risk materials in the system, which used pipelines
constructed of cast and wrought iron rather than plastic.
The complaint, filed by Lawrence resident Francely Acosta, who
was forced to evacuate, accused NiSource of negligence and
creating a public nuisance by failing to maintain gas pressure
in its "antiquated" system, which it blamed for Thursday's
explosions.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages on behalf of residents
affected by the incident and an order requiring NiSource to stop
operating its system in an unsafe manner.
The blasts on Thursday destroyed as many as 80 houses in the
largest natural gas pipeline accident in the United States since
2010.
Some 8,000 people were displaced amid evacuations of entire
neighborhoods as firefighters raced for hours from one blaze to
another and utility crews rushed to shut off gas and
electricity.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the
incident, which Columbia Gas has said affected 8,600 of its
customers.
NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt on Sunday said over-pressurization
of the gas distribution system was to blame and that the agency
was looking at pressure sensors attached to a line that was
taken out of service before the explosions.
In a letter to NiSource on Monday, U.S. Senators Edward Markey
and Elizabeth Warren, both Democrats of Massachusetts, said the
pressure in the pipeline system had been 12 times greater than
it was intended to hold.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
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