BGE's installation of gas pressure-regulation devices at Baltimore homes ignites fierce political, legal battles
Residents claim in suit that BGE's move endangers lives. Judge grants restraining order to halt utility's installations. State regulators, City Council investigating BGE. Bill would stop BGE project.
By Gary Gately
The civic battle pits BGE against hundreds of residents who claim in a federal lawsuit that the utility is endangering their lives, risking catastrophic explosions by installing exterior devices that regulate gas pressure.
Baltimore City Council members have sharply questioned BGE’s move and one has introduced a measure that would ban the external gas regulators. Several residents have been arrested while protesting against BGE. And a Baltimore Circuit Court judge granted a 60-day restraining order on July 10, forcing the utility company to stop work on installing the devices, to replace indoor ones.
The state Public Service Commission has raised serious questions about the wisdom of BGE’s actions, and will grill its executives at an August 15 hearing, and residents will no doubt turn out in force for a city agency’s August 22 public hearing.
BGE has been installing the “gas regulators' ' on the facades of row houses across the city – and in turn, jacked up residents’ monthly utility bills, which many have long struggled to pay. Utility workers have also caused costly damage to homes, residents allege.
BGE has steadfastly maintained that the massive project, which remains in its early stages and has cost $3 million since last year, is designed to ensure residents’ safety by replacing centuries-old cast iron pipes with more modern technology that reduces methane emissions, and in turn, the danger of explosions.
In public statements, the company has noted that the installations had been approved by the PSC and received Baltimore City permits.
“The goal of this work is to provide customers with natural gas in the safest and most reliable manner possible,” BGE said in a statement two weeks ago.
But residents, and a growing number of lawmakers and regulators, point to research that shows the devices have caused explosions elsewhere. More than 400 residents have joined the class-action suit, which grew from just a hundred in a three-week span.
Things got ugly at one protest against the gas regulators in Federal Hill in late June when three women were arrested and charged with interfering with a public utility, trespassing on private property and refusing requests that they leave.
City Councilman Eric Costello, who introduced the bill to ban the installation of the devices on some homes, said last week: “We want to let people know we’ve heard those concerns. We’ve heard that outrage.”
It doesn’t look like it will subside anytime soon.
If you spot any errors, want to share news tips, pitch story ideas or submit a first-person piece, please get in touch. I’d love to hear from you. Thanks again for reading, and have a nice weekend. Gary Gately, Editor, The Baltimore Observer, garymichaelgately@gmail.com, 410-382-4364.