BOSTON (WHDH/AP) — Columbia Gas is expected to be sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to causing a series of natural gas explosions that killed one person and damaged dozens of homes in the Merrimack Valley.
The president of Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, Mark Kempic, entered the plea March 9 in federal court in Boston on behalf of the company that was responsible for the blasts that tore through Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover in September 2018.
As part of the plea agreement, Columbia Gas of Massachusetts will pay a $53 million fine for violating the Pipeline Safety Act. It’s the largest criminal fine ever imposed under the pipeline safety law.
Federal investigators blamed the explosions on overpressurized gas lines, saying the company failed to account for critical pressure sensors as workers replaced century-old, cast-iron pipes in Lawrence. That omission caused high-pressure gas to flood the neighborhood’s distribution system at excessive levels.
Investigators found that Columbia Gas violated minimum safety standards for starting up and shutting down gas lines through a “pattern of flagrant indifference.”
Thousands of homes and businesses went without gas service for weeks, and months in some cases, during the winter following the explosions and fires.
Leonel Rondon, 18, died when a chimney collapsed on his vehicle in the driveway of a friend’s home — hours after he had gotten his driver’s license.
About two dozen others were injured, and dozens of buildings were damaged or destroyed.
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