On September 13, 2018, explosions rocked the communities of Lawrence, Andover and North Andover in the Merrimack Valley region of Massachusetts. Once the dust settled, hundreds of homes were burning, more than a dozen people were injured and one 18-year-old man was killed.

It was one of the most prolific natural gas disasters in the United States.

Shortly thereafter, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) launched an in-depth investigation into the accident. The NTSB found that high pressure gas was released into the distribution system and was “delivered to customers at a pressure well above the maximum-allowable operating pressure” leading to a series of fires and explosions. 

There was an immediate public outcry, spurring a bi-partisan coalition of lawmakers to sponsor safety reform legislation. Two years later, the Pipes Act of 2020 was signed into law, bringing additional regulations to the industry.

We decided to take a deeper look at the complex relationship between safety and natural gas distribution pressure. This curiosity, eventually manifested itself into a white paper.

In this white paper, we:

  • Existing pressure monitoring tools and methodologies
  • The changes that utilities can expect with the enactment of the Pipes Act of 2020
  • How new technologies can give utilities greater visibility and control when managing pressure.

Download “The Relationship Between Safety and Natural Gas Distribution Pressure” white paper and learn how you can create a safer world for your customers.

Photo courtesy of Whoisjohngalt, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons