Where does the Merrimack Valley gas crisis stand now? Here's what we know.

[Rhiannon12866]

"People have been able to go back to their homes, but there remains a long road ahead," Gov. Charlie Baker said Tuesday.

<snip>

Here’s what what we know about the crisis as of Tuesday afternoon:

How did it happen?

While state officials have said the emergency involved over-pressurized gas lines, a definitive reason could take some time to investigate.

“The investigation, as I understand it, will not be focused on the end users of the gas but on the distribution system and the origin of the pressure,” Kurt Schwartz, director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, said Friday as the review was just getting underway.

Still, in a letter to Columbia Gas and its Indiana-based parent company, NiSource, Inc., Monday, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey wrote that the pressure in the system read 12 times higher than what it was meant to hold, based upon a report from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Pressure in the gas lines should have been approximately 0.5 pounds per square inch, or PSI, but instead came in at at least 6 PSI, according to the letter, which sought answers to questions surrounding the company’s response to the crisis and information about pre-planned upgrades to gas lines that were announced ahead of when the fires broke out.

“We have requested a hearing in the Senate Commerce Committee on this incident and we hope that you will cooperate fully and transparently with federal investigators,” the letter said. “We write to request that you provide us with information in order to help the American people understand why this terrible disaster occurred, whether the company was sufficiently prepared to respond to an incident of this magnitude, and how we can prevent any similar tragedy in the future.”


Much more: https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2018/09/18/merrimack-valley-gas-explosions-fires-update



The house owned by Lawrence Police Officer Ivan Soto sits nearly burned to the ground on Jefferson Street, in Lawrence Friday. –Bob Salsberg / AP