MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A natural gas incident occurring on Wednesday at a gas line in Lee County resulted in injuries to three contractors and loss of service for thousands of customers.
On Mar. 13, Mississippi Public Service Commission Chairman Chris Brown of the Northern District released the following statement about the natural gas incident on an Atmos Energy line in Lee County that occurred during routine maintenance on Wednesday morning, resulting in several injuries and loss of service for 17,460 customers.
“Our prayers are with the injured workers, their families, and all of those affected by this incident. The safety of our communities is our top priority, and we appreciate the prompt response of emergency services and Atmos Energy in containing the situation and responding. We also want to recognize the Mississippi Public Service Commission Pipeline Safety Division for being on the scene and working to ensure the safety of workers and the public. The Pipeline Safety Division has completed their investigation and released the site back to Atmos. Our office continues to work closely with Atmos Energy, emergency responders, cities, towns, and ratepayers to ensure that affected areas receive support.”
Atmos Energy said the temporary system outage affected residents in Lee County, Mississippi, in the towns of Belden, Guntown, Plantersville, Pontotoc, Saltillo, Shannon, Tupelo, and Verona.
In a Facebook Live City of Tupelo press conference, Mayor Todd Jordan said that as of now, they will not be giving information about the injured contractors’ conditions.
Atmos Energy’s Vice President of Public Affairs, Bobby Morgan, said that Atmos Energy is praying for the contractors’ recovery.
“Yesterday morning, contractors were performing scheduled work on the Atmos Energy’s pipeline. These were contractors that were specialized in the type of work they engaged in,” said Morgan. “While the work was being performed, there was an accidental release of high-pressure gas. The gas did not ignite.”
The gas company said they have been going to houses to turn off the gas at each customer’s meter. They begin work early in the morning and will continue until around midnight each day.
They said that it is an extensive process and cannot provide an estimate of when service will be restored.
“Your natural gas piping and appliances must pass the safety check that’s critical first and foremost. A resident or an authorized of the business who is 18 years of age or older needs to be present,” said Morgan. “That needs to be the case because we have to have our technicians enter the home to safely relight the appliances.”
Morgan said that if no one is present, workers will leave a door tag with instructions on what to do.
Atmos Energy said on its website that more than 200 Atmos Energy employees from across their eight-state footprint arrived at their command center in Tupelo to assist with restoration efforts, and more employees and Atmos Energy contractors are on their way.
Atmos Energy made the following statement:
The area is safe, and no evacuations have been issued. However, you will not have natural gas service until repairs and safety checks are completed, and then a highly trained safety technician can safely begin the restoration process and relight appliances. The safety of our communities, employees, and contractors remains our highest priority.
For any questions about natural gas service, their customer service line is available from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, at (888) 286-6700.
