- NiSource (NYSE:NI) shares sank nearly 12% in today's trade after a series of gas explosions rocked a residential area near Boston due to excessive pressurization of a gas main and sparking investor fears of lawsuits and government fines.
- NiSource's Columbia Gas subsidiary has provided little information on the cause of the incident, and Massachusetts Gov. Baker has placed rival utility Eversource (NYSE:ES) in charge of the response to the explosion, replacing Columbia Gas.
- Thousands of people remain unable to return to their homes while crews visited homes of 8,600 affected customers to shut off gas meters and conduct safety inspections.
- If NiSource is found liable, it could face substantial fines; for example, Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) paid a $153M fine after a year-long investigation into a 2014 gas pipeline explosion in New York, and PG&E paid $1.6B in civil and criminal fines related to a 2010 pipeline explosion near San Francisco.
- The Massachusetts natural gas distribution system is one of the oldest in the U.S., with the age of some of the piping more than a century old.
- Now read: Just Energy (JE) Investor Presentation - Slideshow
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