PSC: Gas Meter Regulations are Generic

Investigators think a driver hit the gas instead of the break causing the driver to crash into a gas meter at the Fairfield Inn and Suites.

Everyone was able to get out before the explosion that happened just minutes later.
No one was seriously hurt.

The hotel has been condemned but the hotel owner, TMI Hospitality of Fargo, North Dakota, said it will rebuild.

The accident brings up some questions: Could it have been prevented and could this happen at other hotels?  Should that gas meter have been better protected?

The Public Service Commission said it is still in the very early stages of a preliminary investigation into if that gas meter should have been better protected.

Right now, PSC inspectors can’t even get to the gas meter because of all the debris. 

The federal regulation, which is enforced by the Kentucky Public Service Commission says:

Each mater and service regulator, whether inside or outside a building, must be installed in a readily accessible location and e protected from corrosion and other damage, including, if installed outside a building, vehicular damage that may be anticipated.  However, the upstream regulator in a series may be buried.

The PSC admits, it is very generic wording and that the regulation doesn’t specific if vehicular damage is a bike, a semi-truck or in the case of Sunday’s explosion a car.

It also doesn’t say how the gas pipeline needs to be protected.

The PSC said that’s where its inspectors use common sense to interpret and apply the regulation.

 “A gas meter that’s installed within a few feet of a major highway, that’s got high-speed traffic on it is going to be held to a different standard than one that’s on a residential building that’s 200 feet from the nearest road,” said Andrew Melnykovych, communications director for the Kentucky Public Service Commission.
 
The wording of the regulation was changed back in 2003 to include vehicular damage for emphasis.
 
Columbia Gas has 30 days to finish its report and the PSC hopes to have more answers in the next six weeks.
 
After the PSC review, if Columbia Gas is found in violation, it could face a hefty fine.