On February 1, the Public Utility Commission voted to seek public comment on a proposed settlement concerning events that resulted in the over-pressurization of the Peoples Natural Gas distribution system serving the community of Robinson, Indiana County, that caused a wide range of damage to utility and customer equipment.

The Commission voted 5-0 to publish the proposed settlement in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, which will mark the start of a 25-day public comment period, after receiving additional specific financial information from Peoples Natural Gas and the PUC’s independent Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement (I&E) related to the incident – clearly and publicly detailing the cost of replacing private property that was damaged.

Full instructions for submitting public comment will be provided when the proposed settlement is published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.

A copy of the Commission’s order and the proposed settlement are also being provided to the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate and Pennsylvania Office of Small Business Advocate for their consideration and comment.

The Commission will carefully review all comments received before issuing a final decision on this case.

Robinson Over-Pressurization Incident, Proposed Settlement

The case concerns an event that occurred on April 29, 2020, involving the over-pressurization of the Peoples Natural Gas distribution system serving Robinson, which occurred as technicians from the utility were conducting an annual inspection on the regulator for that system.

As a result of this incident, Peoples Natural Gas replaced 11 furnaces, 70 water heaters, one range, 194 furnace valves, and 135 water tank valves.

They also replaced approximately 4,552 feet of steel pipe and 133 service lines and conducted daily leak surveys for eight weeks until all leaking service lines were replaced.

According to the settlement, I&E noted that technicians failed to follow company procedure; that training materials provided by Peoples Natural Gas were not sufficiently detailed to ensure that employees were qualified; and that the design of the regulator station likely contributed to the incident.

The settlement calls for Peoples Natural Gas to pay a $250,000 civil penalty, which will not be recovered during any future rate case.

Also, supplemental financial information submitted by the utility notes that the cost of replacing private property damaged during this incident was $305,206.10, which will not be recovered in any future rate case.

Additionally, the utility shall review all regulator stations in its distribution system within 30 days of the Commission’s final approval of the settlement; prioritize regulator station improvement projects based on a risk model; and make a series of procedural and training improvements intended to reduce the likelihood of future incidents.

For documents related to this case, visit PUC Docket No.:  M-2023-3024990.

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - February 3  [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 56 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In February 3 PA Bulletin  [PaEN]

Related Articles This Week:

-- DEP Issues Equitrans Midstream Violation For Not Plugging 19 Abandoned Conventional Wells At The Swarts Natural Gas Storage Field In Greene County; Conflicts With Coal Mining  [PaEN]

-- Protect PT: Commonwealth Court Vacates Penneco Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well Permit, Remanding It To Plum Boro For Additional Fact Finding In Allegheny County  [PaEN]

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-- PUC To Seek Comment On $250,000 Penalty Settlement With Peoples Gas On Natural Gas Over-Pressurization Incident In Indiana County That Damaged Hundreds Of Appliances, Caused Distribution Pipeline Leaks  [PaEN] 

-- DEP Citizens Advisory Council Meets Feb. 13 To Discuss Guidance Limiting Impacts Of Pipeline Construction; Pipelines Needed For Carbon Sequestration, Hydrogen; Electrification  [PaEN]

-- PJM Preliminary Performance Review Found 16,119 MW Of Forced Power Plant Outages During Winter Storm Gerri Affecting The Western Region Of PJM  [PaEN]

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-- The Hill: European Union Lawmakers To Biden: We Don’t Need More US Natural Gas 

-- The Energy Age Blog: Liquefied Natural Gas Or LNG: EU Lawmakers To Biden - We Don’t Need More US Natural Gas

-- Reuters: US LNG Natural Gas Exports Fall In January On Arctic Freeze, Plant Outages

-- PA Business Report: Marcellus Shale Gas Coalition, Other Groups Call For End To Permit Halts For New LNG Export Facilities

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-- The Energy Age Blog: Reality - ‘Proprietary’ Fracking Chemicals Remain Secrets, But What About The Bigger Picture?

-- CNX Natural Gas Drilling CEO Nick Deiuliis Says  Dr. Edward Ketyer’s Comments Raising Questions About The CNX ‘Radical Transparency’ Initiative May Violate His Hippocratic Oath

-- The Energy Age: Energy Politics In PA - CNX CEO Critical Of Dr. Ketyer’s Comments On ‘Radical Transparency’

-- Marcellus Shale Gas Industry Coalition Twitter comment on Gov. Shapiro's new Fracking Chemical Disclosure Policy: "This info is already submitted to @PennsylvaniaDEP through Greenport when the well pad & first well are permitted. DEP has had this information on its servers for years.”

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Shell Petrochemical Plant’s Costs Much Higher Than Previously Disclosed,-- $14 Billion; Won’t Be Fully Up And Running Until 2025, 2026

-- Marcellus Drilling News: Shapiro Pays Hollow Lip Service To Natural Gas In New Economic Strategy [PDF of article]

-- TribLive: Westmoreland Water Authority Lifts Mandatory Conservation For Customers Served By Beaver Run Reservoir

-- US DOE Finalizes Efficiency Standards For New Residential Gas, Electric Cooking Products That Will Lower Utility Bills By $1.6 Million

-- Bloomberg: Biden’s LNG Natural Gas Export Facility Pause Has Asian Fuel Buyers Hunting For Other Options

-- Help Wanted: Environmental Health Project Fellowship Summer 2024  [PaEN]

[Posted: February 1, 2024]

2/5/2024