| Hampton Roads, VA - 12.01.2008 | ||
 | 52° | |
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A natural gas leak this morning forced the evacuation of the Chesapeake Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court on Albemarle Drive, authorities said.
Shortly after 8 a.m., a crew doing work outside a nearby parking garage hit a gas line, said Capt. Steve Johnson, fire department spokesman.
The building was evacuated and the line was temporarily repaired, Johnson said. The gas company had arrived at the scene by 8:40 a.m. and the line was repaired shortly before 9 a.m.
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Damage Prevention and Pipeline Safety
This type of incident falls under Virginia's Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act. The Act is enforced by the Virginia State Corporation Commission. The Commission's Division of Utility and Railroad Safety has investigated almost 27.000 reports of possible violation of the Act since the enforcement section was added to the law in 1995. We are investigating this incident and will take appropriate enforcement action as needed. For more information on our damage prevention program, go to our website at:
http://www.scc.virginia.gov/urs/mutility/index.aspx
Relative to momindeepcreek's concern about the abandonment of the service line, our pipeline safety group would be happy to investigate this issue if more information is provided. Our staff has investigated reports like this which resulted in enforcement actions against various gas companies. The information can be sent to us at:
VA SCC, Division of Utility and Railroad Safety, PO Box 1197, Richmond, VA 23218 or calling us directly at 804-371-9980. The website is:
http://www.scc.virginia.gov/urs/pipe/index.aspx
Cut Line?
FYI -- Yes they do get fined and sometimes more. But just as often lines are mis-marked or not even marked at all. So before you rail at the contractors for breaking a line you need to find out if Ms U did their job properly by marking it.
Fault
It is not always the contractor's fault. We had a contractor renovating a house. The workers smelled gas about 2 weeks ago. This was after over a year ago, we requested the gas company to kill the lines and remove them (and the meter)from the house to the street AND we called again this past February for the same thing, with a follow up phone call. We were assured it was done, and was even given a date that it was done.
Bud
No, but if it were you or I that did that, the law would be enforced lol
Gas Line Broken
Do these people ever get arrested, fined, etc. for breaking the "Call Before Digging" law or do you just let them move to the next line and dig through that one, also! If you don't enforce the law, you deserve what you get.