State orders National Grid to limit itself to emergency work after disaster averted in Woburn

By adamg on Mon, 10/08/2018 - 11:53pm

WCVB reports on the aftermath of some overpressurization in Woburn today.

Free tagging:

National Grid

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Comments

Did I just hear correctly?

By anon
Tue, 10/09/2018 - 6:42am

Did I just hear correctly? Now Woburn residents are being told they have to replace all of their gas powered appliances? That's f'd up. We're next.

And Lawrence has to replace

By anon
Tue, 10/09/2018 - 6:44am

And Lawrence has to replace their appliances as well?

Re: Replacing appliances

By Briancj
Tue, 10/09/2018 - 8:11am

http://www.eagletribune.com/news/columbia-gas-conf...

So the list of "quality" appliances that they gave us is not anywhere near comparable to the range I had that is less than a year old. Yes, we were given the option to buy a like appliance, but that comes with the threat that we will not be part of the regular reconnection cycle and will be automatically placed at the bottom of the list, possibly not getting our gas service back until after the first of the new year. They will not let us move the now condemned appliance out of the apartment unit ourselves, so we must wait for them to come collect it because for all that they aren't going to repair on site, they have every intention of sending my appliance back to Samsung for factory refurbishment for resale.

We still have not received a call from the claims adjuster about our other out of pocket expenses. Do not buy the hype that they are bending over backwards to take care of anyone.

Get. Off. Gas.

By anon
Tue, 10/09/2018 - 4:50pm

Switch to electric.

Induction cooktop.
Air Source Heat Pump.
Electric Water Heater.

Do it for your own sake, and for humanity's.

Electric stoves

By anon
Wed, 10/10/2018 - 9:11am

SUCK!

The grid can't handle that

By anon
Wed, 10/10/2018 - 3:02pm

It most certainly cannot handle everyone heating with electricity - which is also massively expensive in these parts.

Air Source Heat Pump?

By anon
Thu, 10/11/2018 - 9:59am

I didn't know we had trolls from California.

Those things don't work so well around here.

its electricity not magic

By cinnamngrl
Thu, 10/11/2018 - 4:35pm

You need a source of energy to create electricity. Most of america's electricity is made with coal. Gas burns cleaner and if managed professionally it is very safe. The problems are created by greedy corporations that cut costs.

Where is Charlie?

By anon
Tue, 10/09/2018 - 8:38am

When are we going to take all this seriously?

There are thousands of gas leaks all over the Commonwealth but we are told everything is under control.
https://heetma.org/gas-leaks/gas-leak-maps/

New construction and housing starts are behind schedule because new gas hookups are not a priority
https://www.dotnews.com/2018/gas-worker-lockout-hu...

And in the midst of all this, National Grid wont stop the lockout of experienced workers. Baker did the right thing for Lawrence , Andover and North Andover by ordering that National Grid take over Columbia Gas repair work. Now he needs to do the right thing and order National Grid to stop the lockout. Lives and livelihoods are at severe risk.

No authority to do so

By Lunchbox
Tue, 10/09/2018 - 2:52pm

Labor disputes like the National Grid lockout are governed by federal law only, not state law.

Gov. Baker could take to the bully pulpit and call on the parties to end the dispute, but he can't order them back to work.

Yikes Scabs

By BlackKat
Tue, 10/09/2018 - 10:05am

You'll note that it was "management employees" as the normal line workers are still on strike. Now those employees may have started below management, and may generally know what they're doing... but still.

I'm so glad I have an electric stove/oven. And the boiler which uses gas for hot water is far far away in another building.
Sure, Eversource seems incapable of not making my block black out 26 times [not an exaggeration] a summer, but at least it doesn't blow up when that happens.

To be clear, it is not a

By anon
Tue, 10/09/2018 - 10:09am

To be clear, it is not a strike. It is a lock-out. The union offered to continue to work under the previous terms of their expired contract while negotiating a new contract. Because they have a monopoly, everyone is screwed but the share holders.

yes its a lockout -

By gfd gfs
Wed, 10/10/2018 - 12:41pm

- but the union voted to strike - what did they think was going to happen.

so what happens if NG allowed the Union to continue working as they had in the past - but the Union gets fed up and walk out anyways - Gas projects are happening 24 hours a day - no real 'ideal' time to walk off a job.

Unions not happy about retirement program changes for new people - people that don't even work for the company yet! So no one works at all - and no one gets hired.

Not happy that they need to contribute more to health insurance - lets vote to strike and no one get health insurance.

Its 2018, pensions are going away & people need to contribute more to health care costs - I feel bad for the folks in the union that really want to work & and aren't able to.

Its wrong and stupid to

By cinnamngrl
Wed, 10/10/2018 - 5:05pm

Its wrong and stupid to reduce their pay when the economy is strong. If you spend your life working, you deserve a pension and good health care. Just because the private sector scammed everyone out of getting a pension doesn't mean that its a good thing. If your 401k isn't enough, then you will depend on the federal and state government to afford to live. This isn't any different than when minimum wage employees of big companies have to get food stamps. Its a scam to make taxpayers subsidize their labor costs.

Slight correction

By KellyJMF
Tue, 10/09/2018 - 10:48am

Not on strike, they're locked out by National Grid.

Thanks

By BlackKat
Tue, 10/09/2018 - 11:17am

A misstatement on my part.

I bet they have great hair

By jmeltzer
Tue, 10/09/2018 - 12:47pm

Even though they don't know anything about maintaining gas lines.

‘What we’ve got here is

By anon
Tue, 10/09/2018 - 10:55am

‘What we’ve got here is failure to communicate’

With all this new fangled communication methods, you would think the left hand would know what the right hand is doing. This is just incompetence .

State takeover

By cinnamngrl
Wed, 10/10/2018 - 4:59pm

These investor owned utilities don't care what happens to their customers We need to end this problem by giving the utilities to the municipalities. And these greedy companies should pay start up cost.

Returning the utilities to the municipalities?

By Waquiot
Tue, 10/09/2018 - 4:19pm

Great, but neither Boston Gas nor Boston Edison were ever owned by the City of Boston. Boston has always had private companies providing utility services, except for water, which is still in public hands.

I didn't say return. I said takeover.

By cinnamngrl
Wed, 10/10/2018 - 1:16pm

These private companies care about investors, not the safety of anyone living here. They refused to extend the current contract and locked out all the experienced gas workers because they want to pay them less (despite new tax breaks and booming economy). We can't trust our safety to these greedy careless companies.

no - no, not pay them less.

By gfd gfs
Wed, 10/10/2018 - 1:24pm

no - no, not pay them less. Give new hires 401k rather than a pension, as well as contribute more tho there health coverage.

You wrote return

By Waquiot
Wed, 10/10/2018 - 2:54pm

Go back and re-read what you wrote.

By the way, governmental ownership of utility infrastructure is not something I oppose. I never understood electricity deregulation for just that reason- no matter who I choose, it's the same wires coming into my house. There could be something to be said about utility generation being privately held, since they could innovate on that level. Of course, there is also the happy medium of government ownership with private franchises, like what is done in the UK.

That said, you did wrote return in the body of your comment.

https://www.capecodtimes.com/assets/pdf/CC1832725.PDF