3 gas line ruptures in Bangor projects prompt PUC to fine three companies

BANGOR – The Maine Public Utilities Commission has cited three local companies for causing three separate gas line ruptures – two at the Hollywood Slots construction site – that have occurred in the last seven weeks.

The PUC issued all three companies – A.D. Electric of Sabattus, Vaughn Thibodeau & Sons of Bangor and Sargent Corp. of Stillwater – the same two violations and fines.

“The excavator failed to perform hand excavation or failed to employ reasonable precautions to avoid damaging” the underground utilities, PUC spokesman Fred Bever said Tuesday about all three incidents. And the “excavation was performed in a reckless or negligent manner.”

The companies were fined $500 per violation and now have the opportunity to respond, he said.

The two gas line ruptures at the Hollywood Slots construction site occurred on Sept. 7 and Oct. 10. The Sept. 7 incident happened when subcontractor A.D. Electric hit a 6-inch pressurized natural gas line while drilling a hole near the McDonald’s side of the Main Street site, which sent debris flying and released gas into the air.

The Oct. 10 incidents occurred when Vaughn Thibodeau & Son, the project’s general contractor, hit an 8-inch natural gas line between the site and the nearby Best Inn.

Both lines were pressurized, and neither incident resulted in injuries. However, they did cause the closure of Main Street and the rerouting of traffic.

Cianbro Corp., a Pittsfield construction company, is in the middle of building the $131 million gaming and hotel complex on Main Street that would house 1,500 slot machines and a 152-room hotel, scheduled to open next July. Company leaders are taking measures to prevent future incidents with underground utilities, Bever said.

“We’re going up to there to do a refresher course,” he said.

Stephen Lewis, director of Gas Safety, and the PUC’s damage prevention program manager, will arrive on Thursday to train Cianbro’s various subcontractors on Dig Safe rules.

The third gas rupture happened Oct. 11 on Stillwater Avenue between Circuit City and Jo-Ann Fabric when workers with Sargent Corp., working to widen the road, hit an underground line.