Oklahoma Natural Gas reached a proposed settlement Wednesday in an enforcement case over a house explosion earlier this year.
The company will pay just over $1 million if state regulators accept the agreement.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s pipeline safety staff investigated after a home on Whispering Hollow Drive blew up January 2. The resident who lived there was injured and his house was destroyed, and the blast damaged 50 other homes nearby, The Journal Record’s Sarah Terry-Cobo reports:
ONG spokeswoman Cherokee Ballard apologized for the incident and said she wanted to reassure customers that safety is the company’s top priority. The utility is systematically reviewing all of its natural gas pipelines that used the same pipe type, as part of the settlement’s remediation actions. The same type of plastic pipe used in the Walnut Creek neighborhood was used in less than 1 percent of all of ONG’s 19,000 miles of pipelines in the state, Ballard said. The gas utility is repairing and replacing pipelines around the state, as well as doing additional leak-safety tests, she said. The systemwide review should be completed by the end of the year. OCC pipeline safety division director Patricia Franz said during the hearing she considers the utility’s remediation work a good-faith effort to comply with agency rules.
The staff of the Corporation Commission determined the plastic natural gas pipeline had leaks just five months after it was installed. The investigation found eight previous leaks since 1983. The regulator alleged ONG didn’t properly investigate the cause of the leaks.
A Corporation Commission judge on Wednesday recommended the agency approve the settlement.
ONG did not admit wrongdoing as part of the proposed settlement. Another stipulation of the proposed agreement is that the company will not seek reimbursement from customers for the $1 million paid the next time ONG files a rate case. The agency’s three-commissioner panel must approve by a majority Porter’s recommendation before the settlement is complete. Corporation Commission Attorney Mark Willingham said the commissioners could hear the case as early as Nov. 1 or on Nov. 3. The commission staff isn’t allowed to discuss pending cases. The enforcement case is considered ongoing until commissioners make a final ruling.
KGOU is a community-supported news organization and relies on contributions from readers and listeners to fulfill its mission of public service to Oklahoma and beyond. Donate online, or by contacting our Membership department.
