On January 27, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators were on their way to search out the details of what caused an explosion that killed 82-year-old Clara Barbour in her home at 185 Bristol Blvd. in South Jackson when another explosion only seven-tenths of a mile away disrupted their journey. Fortunately, the second explosion, while destructive in its own right, caused no death or injuries, according to the NTSB. A second person injured in the Bristol Blvd. explosion has since recovered, it was reported. 

NTSB top officials were in Jackson for an April 24 town hall meeting on the lapse in Jackson’s natural gas safety and the prevention of any future gas accidents like the ones that occurred on January 24 and 27 in South Jackson.

The NTSB noted in its preliminary report, issued on February 14, that Atmos Energy, the city’s gas supplier, had known of both leaks well ahead of the explosions but had classified the leaks at both sites as “nonhazardous” and, based on their classifications, did not call for immediate repair.

Ashley Horton, investigator in charge of the Atmos accidents, said that the NTSB has duty officers on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When the office received a call on the afternoon of January 24 regarding the Bristol Blvd. explosion with one person injured, they suspected a natural gas explosion and alerted the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Duty Officer. This officer learned of a fire and injury to one person. Natural gas was not ruled out. Two days later, an updated notification was sent to the National Response Center that reported a fatality. The decision to launch an investigation occurred on the same day, January 26. 

While the investigative team was en route to the accident location on January 27, they received a call from Atmos alerting them of the explosion on Shalimar Drive.

GRADED LEAKS

Second District Congressman Bennie Thompson, hosting the April 24 town hall at Greater Mount Olive MB Church on Raymond Road, called attention to the faulty practice of leaving the classification of gas leaks up to the company responsible for controlling them. 

“The NTSB reports said that leaks were determined, but they were determined to be nonhazardous,” Thompson said. “Most of us who are customers we just think of a gas leak as dangerous. We didn’t know they were classified one way or another. So, (is there) someone who can determine class 1, class 2, and class 3?”

NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said that Atmos Energy had been allowed to set up its own classification system. Grade 1 is the hazardous category requiring immediate repair; Grade 2 and Grade 3 are determined to be not hazardous, she said.

“We are aware of known leaks before the accidents that occurred on January 24,” she said. “And we’re aware of 120 known leaks in South Jackson and 289 in a five-mile radius around the city of Jackson.”

Atmos officials reported to NTSB that any Grade 1 leaks were fixed immediately, Homendy said. Atmos reported that they had repaired 100 percent of the Grade 2 leaks, she said. Of the Grade 3 leaks, she said, Atmos reported having fixed 88 percent of the ones in South Jackson, and 69 percent within the five-miles radius of Jackson.

“We still have to verify that,” Homendy said. “Those are the reports that we’ve received, and we have to verify everything that’s reported to us.”

“If the explosions had not occurred,” Thompson asked, “would those leaks have gone on without being repaired? Is there a policy that says when a leak is determined, you fix it within a period of time?”

NTSB Deputy Administrator Clifton Brown said the current policy under which companies like Atmos Energy are allowed to classify their own grades of leaks has been in place for “decades and decades.” The only requirement was that all Grade 1 leaks must be repaired immediately, he said. A top priority of the Biden-Harris Administration is to change the policy to minimize all methane gas leaks, and that policy change is still waiting for Congressional approval, Brown said. Once the approval is given, Brown said, any leak that is found will be required to be repaired within a certain time frame.

“You don’t deserve this,” Homendy said. “You deserve transparency. You need to know what is happening in your community. You should not smell gas. You should not have had to smell gas for up to a year, months, weeks. At no point should you be smelling gas. If you smell gas, you should not only call 911, but leave the building. It will take time for our investigation. But we will continue to provide updates.”

WHO ENFORCES FINDINGS?

While the NTSB’s primary task is that of an investigative body and an arm of the federal government, a major question asked at the town hall was who has the power to enforce the prescriptions and findings once the investigation has been completed?

“Our entire investigation is focused on one thing, and that’s saving lives,” Homendy said. “Our sole mission is to prevent a tragedy from reoccurring. We investigate. We’ve got our goals: What happened? How did it happen? And how do we keep it from reoccurring?”

Homendy also spoke of a number of governmental agencies that have overlapping responsibilities in safety regulation, but that it is primarily at the state level that the power to enforce the NTSB findings is located.

Speaking on behalf of Central District Public Service Commissioner DeKeither Stamps, his staff member Jason Clark, an economic development specialist, reported that the responsibility of the PSC is to ensure safety and to hold those liable who refuse to conform to the laws and policies that are in place.

The PSC is responsible for oversight and regulation of the investor-owned, or privately-owned, natural gas utility, including infrastructure, distribution of the system, and safety protocol, Clark said. This ensures that the companies in a certain industry adhere to the highest safety standards. PSC is supposed to conduct regular inspections on a natural gas facility to identify particular hazards and to ensure compliance with safety regulations, he said.

“Overall, the PSC has the responsibility to ensure safety and hold those liable for causing natural gas explosions and fires. It is crucial in protecting the public and in maintaining the integrity of the natural gas industry,” Clark said.

CITY INVOLVEMENT

City Council President Aaron Banks said the NTSB and the City of Jackson need to have more extensive communication together because of the many excavation projects the city has going on in replacing water lines and installing hundreds of miles of pipes. 

Assistant Police Chief Vincent Grizzell reported that the JPD averages 10,000 calls to 911 each week. Since February 22, 2023, the 911 switchboard has had more than 285 calls that were about service for gas leaks, he said. 

“We’re not experts for gas leaks,” Grizzell said, “but we do respond for Jackson Fire Department. We have our arson investigators and they respond and assign a case number to each call. People have been calling from February 22, 2023, all the way up to February 17, 2024. Outside of what we do, we have an average of 40 dispatchers in the 911 center, the largest in the state of Mississippi.”

ATMOS RESOURCES

As early as February 22, 2024, Thompson had spoken of his concerns about why the Atmos officials hadn’t stopped the gas leaks when they first learned of them in November and December of 2023.

“There were a lot of Atmos resources that came in after the problem,” Thompson said. “Why couldn’t this community have had resources before, on the preventative side?

“What I’m saying to the people here is that every time a situation like this occurs, we get a lot of resources on the back end. So, the question is, how do we structure a system that builds in accountability on the front end so a lot of these things will be mitigated and a much cheaper job to fix. I shudder to think what bringing all those resources cost after the fact. 

“I see all the Atmos assets in town now,” Thompson said. “Why couldn’t those assets have been deployed when the breaks were first discovered?”

Thompson also questioned statements by Atmos public relations VP Bobby Morgan, who spoke on behalf of Entergy at the April 24 town hall. Morgan responded that the company always has the benefit of the community as its main concern.

“We’ve accelerated work in the community,” Morgan said. “We’ve brought a significant amount of new forces to bear. We’re going to do a better job of communicating. But I want you to know that in the immediate hours after the 24th and 27th (of January), our highest concerns were the care and concern of customers. As you guys remember, on Bristol and Shalimar, our technicians shut off gas to the impacted area. That means that we had about 100 customers we displaced. So, I apologize if we did not communicate (because of priorities of the time). The ultimate beneficiary will be the people of this community,” he said.

MORE ENFORCEMENT

Deputy Administrator Brown says NTSB set a record for enforcements of pipeline operators who failed to meet up to the agency’s regulations in 2021. The year 2022 saw an even greater level of enforcement, and 2023 exceeded that record again, he said. Since the burden of enforcement redounds to the state, the record number of enforcements has brought an increase in the amount of money that the states, especially Mississippi, will receive to support their work. 

“We fund our states at full operator accountable state level, including the state of Mississippi as they do their work,” Brown said. “And then we provide grants to state programs that do the inspections and the enforcements. Thanks to your Congressman and the President’s FY 2024 Budget, we had a 40 percent increase in funding for the State of Mississippi as they do their work in pipeline inspections.”

This increase in enforcement money has come after many years of funding shortfalls in the state pipeline inspection programs. Congressman Thompson helped to make the increase available, Brown said.

“The one recommendation we’ve had for the state of Mississippi is to increase the enforcement limit,” Brown said. “At the federal level we have over a $2 million enforcement limit. The state of Mississippi has a $200,000 limit. We don’t think that is enough. We want to continue to fund the state of Mississippi and the work the state does. We have identified that as an action item, We hope the state legislature and the appropriate authority will act to address that.”