Missouri Gas Energy has settled a complaint alleging it failed to take adequate measures to ensure safety in a fatal 2013 blast caused by a gas leak under an agreement announced Thursday with the state's Public Service Commission.
The company, owned by the Laclede Group, agreed to change some of its emergency procedures and increase training in response to a 2014 complaint from the Missouri Public Service Commission's staff. The company continues to deny any violation of safety rules in the Feb. 19, 2013, explosion at JJ's Restaurant in Kansas City that killed one woman, leveled the restaurant and injured more than a dozen others.
The company is confident they did not violate any safety rules, Laclede Gas President Steve Lindsey said in a statement Thursday.
"At the same time, we thought that public safety would be best served by devoting our resources to better coordinating how we and other emergency responders deal with such incidents in the future, rather than on engaging in protracted litigation on disputed issue," he said.
The part of the complaint alleging safety violations has been dropped. The company agreed to change its emergency policies, increase training for fire departments and create an inspection program when excavations take place near some facilities in response to recommendation from commission staff.
The cost of the changes will be absorbed by the company between now and the next rate case for the utility. The Public Service Commission said in a statement that those costs, estimated at about $107,000, exceeded any penalty the commission could have gotten from the company.
A gas leak caused by a cable company subcontractor hit a natural gas supply line with an underground borer and caused the explosion, according to a Kansas City Fire Department investigation. The leak was reported about an hour before the building erupted in flames but the building had not been fully evacuated.
Personnel from the Kansas City Fire Department responded to the initial gas leak report but left the scene before the explosion. The department has since changed its policy to have firefighters stay on the scene until any gas readings are in an acceptable range.
MGE will enhance its outreach program to train more fire departments in its natural gas emergency response procedures and also participate in meetings to develop a statewide policy for communication and coordination between gas utilities and emergency responders, according to the agreement.
"MGE believes that it has a good natural gas emergency training program, but also recognizes that not enough fire departments take advantage of MGE's offer of free training," the agreement said.
MGE has also added more detailed directions for employees to warn occupants in buildings with gas levels above the norm and will request fire departments adopt guidelines to take the lead in responding to gas leaks.
"These guidelines should, at a minimum, seek to have fire department personnel who are responding to a gas leak exercise and enforce control over the site, including any restricted zones that may be established, and play a major role in the evacuation of people located in buildings at or adjacent to the site," according to the agreement.