Xcel offers 3-year plan to fix gas lines

Xcel Energy Co. has proposed a three-year plan to search all of the state's sewer pipes in order to identify and repair any gas lines that might have breached them, the company said on Friday.

Once the state Department of Public Safety (DPS) gives the go-ahead, Xcel crews will begin scanning sewer pipes looking for gas lines, said Bill Kaphing, the company's vice president of operations. That could be as soon as April 1.

"One way or another, we will clear them all," Kaphing said.

On Feb. 1, a house at 2014 Villard Av. in St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood was destroyed after a gas line that had accidentally been bored through a sewer pipe blew up and triggered a fire, injuring a drain service worker. Four days later, the DPS ordered Xcel to come up with a plan to identify all gas lines in the state that have similarly breached sewer lines and to fix them.

The order carried a deadline of Friday and the onus of a $1 million fine for failing to comply.

The initial part of the plan focuses on St. Paul, Kaphing said, because that's where most of Xcel's gas lines have been moved, mostly as part of the city's massive storm water and sewage separation project.

Simultaneously, hospitals, schools and churches served by Xcel's Northern States Power Co. subsidiary also will be checked, he said. That goes a step beyond the order because it includes those in North Dakota.

It's not clear right how much the inspections -- which entail flushing the sewer pipes, then using a special video camera to scan them -- is going to cost or how Xcel will recover those costs, Kaphing said.

"We've never undertaken something like this before," he said.

The breaches can happen when gas lines are moved or installed by a boring process, rather than laying the lines in a trench. "We know that's extremely rare in our area," Kaphing said. The company has found five of those breaches since 1989.

After St. Paul's sewers have been searched, the company will systematically expand the effort to cover all 430,000 of its customers, he said.

"Xcel Energy's actions so far indicate to us that they're doing the right thing to ensure public safety and peace of mind for homeowners," said DPS spokesman Andy Skoogman.

The agency will begin an enhanced monitoring plan of its own as the company complies with the order. "We will trust, but we will verify," Skoogman said.

If it is feasible, he said, the agency may push Xcel to compress the proposed timeline for completion.

Two letters received

Trista Meehan, the St. Paul homeowner who escaped her burning house with the man she had hired to clear her clogged sewer, is continuing her efforts to rebuild.

Meehan's first contact with Xcel after the accident -- other than a bill -- came this week in the form of two letters, each dated the day after the fire and opening with the same sentence: "Your safety is our No. 1 concern."

One letter says a "potentially dangerous condition exists with your Fuel Line." The other says Meehan's water heater was found to be hazardous and urges her to get it serviced.

After an extensive phone conversation with Xcel, Meehan said, it appears the letters were intended for a neighbor. Still, coming after losing almost everything she owned, it "was really rubbing salt in the wounds -- I mean, are you kidding me?" she said.

Kaphing confirmed the letters were an honest mistake after a service crew wrote down the wrong address when Meehan's neighbor reported a problem.

Meehan also faces an out-of-pocket expense after a city contractor cleared the remaining debris of her house. Insurance will pick up less than $10,000 of the $15,000 bill she is expecting, she said.

Jim Anderson • 612-673-7199