PORTLAND, Maine — Utilities regulators approved agreements Tuesday to resolve likely safety violations by two southern Maine natural gas utilities.
Through a stipulation with the Maine Public Utilities Commission, natural gas utility Unitil agreed to pay a $7,500 penalty and make changes to its inspection process for critical valves on its natural gas distribution pipelines.
Maine Natural Gas agreed to pay a $5,000 penalty for not keeping records of gas leak surveys in seven southern Maine communities from 2012 to 2014.
Maine Natural Gas self-reported the missing records in July, including two consecutive years of missing records for any gas leak surveys in Freeport and Pownal. The Iberdrola subsidiary was also missing some records for Gorham, Windham, Brunswick, Topsham and Bath for that period.
In addition to the penalty, the PUC approved the company’s plan to create a checklist for completing its gas leak surveys, including steps for properly keeping related records.
For Unitil, an inspector from the PUC’s Gas Safety Division wrote in a report that a random review found Unitil had not properly maintained certain “critical valves” on its pipelines in the greater Portland area.
The company agreed to take steps to correct its inspection program and record keeping and fixed problems the inspector found.
Some of the valves were not able to open and close, and one was paved over and inaccessible without removing asphalt that covered it.
The company in a letter Nov. 30 outlined planned fixes for those problems and its overall inspection program.
The three-member PUC approved stipulations resolving those likely violations for both companies on Tuesday.