An unlawfully installed natural gas line connection caused a deadly December explosion that leveled a small office building in Ramsey, and there is concern similar joints may exist throughout the northern and western metro areas, officials said Wednesday.
Located about 50 feet from the blast that killed three and injured one, the underground metal coupling was fixed to plastic piping in a manner that violated building codes. Officials from CenterPoint Energy said they will dig through records and into lawns in an exhaustive search to find other potential problems with natural gas lines.
"In the last several decades, this will be one of the biggest projects we have undertaken," said Tracy Bridge, CenterPoint's director of government and public relations. Bridge said his company wants to replace any lines that don't meet code and that potentially thousands of joints will have to be checked.
The Dec. 28 explosion destroyed a small building occupied by Premier Commercial Properties and Riverview Community Bank. Lois Self, 49, and Lorraine Melton, 35, both of Elk River, and Ann Talle, 43, of Anoka, were killed.
"All I want is my wife back," said Wilber Self, who was married to Lois Self for 34 years. "I'm still grieving, my daughters are still grieving."
Coon Rapids resident Bob Smith, who turned 61 years old Wednesday, suffered burns and fractures of his spine and legs. After a lengthy hospital stay, he is close to returning to work at Riverview, which now operates out of a temporary trailer in the parking lot of an Anoka Kmart.
"It's really frustrating that three wonderful people died because things weren't constructed to code. There's a reason for codes, and that's to protect people," said Duane Kropuenske, Riverview's president and chief executive officer.
Through a family member, Smith declined to comment.
The Ramsey gas line was installed in 1980 by North Central Public Service Co., which was sold to Midwest Gas Co. in 1986. When CenterPoint acquired Midwest in 1993, the utility's gas lines served 80,000 people as far west as Annandale and as far north as Milaca, including residents of Coon Rapids, Columbia Heights and other northern suburbs.
Officials said the Ramsey coupling was unusual, but they are concerned about whether more exist.
"They obviously had different practices than we have ever had," Bridge said.
He said CenterPoint would post notices if it intends to dig in any neighborhood.
A second gas line connection nearby that may have been similarly constructed has since been taken out of use. Testing showed that the second joint had not been leaking.
Using a metal joint and plastic piping can be done if the right components are used, but they were not in the Ramsey case, said Charles Kenow, who heads the Minnesota Office of Pipeline Safety.
Houston-based CenterPoint is Minnesota's largest gas utility with more than 700,000 customers. Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy serves about 400,000 Minnesota gas customers, focused mainly in the east metro.
Xcel officials wouldn't comment on Wednesday's announcement except to note that safety is the company's top priority and that it must comply with federal and state laws regarding pipeline safety.
Investigations by the Office of Pipeline Safety and the Ramsey Fire Department were unable to determine how long the line had been leaking. But they concluded that over time probably aided by the freezing and thawing in the ground a plastic pipe had pulled away from the joint. Gas spread under a surface cap created by pavement and about 2 feet of frost before it reached the building. Ignition could have been caused by something as simple as answering the phone.
CenterPoint expects the search for other problematic joints to be a chore. Bridge said records the company obtained from Midwest Gas are incomplete. "They are not up to our standards," he said.
Bridge said the company would try to identify where similar couplings might be located based on a number of factors, including the date of their installation. The investigation will also include inspections of numerous lines, including seven the company has already identified as test sites.
The Office of Pipeline Safety was created following a deadly 1987 blast in Mounds View. State Fire Marshal Jerry Rosendahl said he did not know what agency had responsibility for inspecting the Ramsey line when it was installed, if any. Penalties for faulty gas line installation now run as high as $10,000 a day, but Kenow said none has been issued in this case.
Kenow said his main concern was identifying other faulty joints. "We just don't have a clue where they are," Kenow said.
Michael McGrath, chief engineer of the Office of Pipeline Safety, said CenterPoint has a lot of work ahead.
The Ramsey Fire Department is expected to release its final report Friday, and the Office of Pipeline Safety report is expected within weeks.
Why no one in the building smelled gas remains an open question. An odorant is added to natural gas, but in some cases soil can filter it out. Called mercaptan, the odorant was present in soil samples taken near the blast site, Kenow said.
Attorneys for the victims said they would like to begin discussions on a settlement.
"You're supposed to be buried by your kids, not the other way around," said Russell Crowder, who represents the parents of Ann Talle. "It's time for the industry to come forward and talk to us."
Fred Sousie represents Smith and the surviving family members of Self and Melton including her two small children. Crowder and Sousie were among dozens of lawyers, engineers and insurance agents who monitored the months-long testing of the faulty joint.
CenterPoint almost certainly has liability as the owner and operator, but liability for the blast probably is not limited to CenterPoint, said Jeff Jefferson, a personal injury and wrongful death attorney in Alaska.
The manufacturer of the fitting might have partial liability depending on the information it sent out with the product to the company that installed it.
Whether North Central Public Service, which installed the fitting, or Midwest Gas has any liability depends on what was in the purchase documents, Jefferson said. "Did you buy liabilities and assets?" he asked.
CenterPoint said it does not know how much the work to locate and replace faulty lines will cost. However, recent sales of an electric generation business in Texas have left the company flush. The company sold Texas Genco Holdings for $2.9 billion, including $700 million in cash that came in earlier this month. CenterPoint intends to use that money to pay down debt.
"They're in a lot better position for this to happen right now than had it happened a year or two years ago," said Jake Mercer, a bond analyst at Minneapolis securities firm Piper Jaffray.
CenterPoint spokesman Rolf Lund said the company might be able to recover the cost from ratepayers.
However, CenterPoint recently settled a rate case the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has yet to approve the 0.8 percent rate increase with the state. Recovering the cost of fixing the gas line problem might well require another rate case.
North Central Public Service was swallowed up in a series of mergers after it sold the pipeline to Midwest Gas.
Distributed by the Associated Press
