nathanpbostonThe April 6, 2023 #WalnutStreetGasExplosions, disturbing as they were, have uncovered an even more disturbing finding: on a cross street of Walnut Street, at 374 Homer Street, where an Eversource Electric Station is located (a station of interest because Eversource initially implicated it in the 4-6-23 explosions), public records show there was a live, unrepaired National Grid gas leak, existing at the time and address of an injury explosion that occurred at that same address on June 20, 2022.
This gas leak, currently on the books at #MassDPU as a grade 3 leak of Significant Environmental Impact (SEI), aka “superemitter”, and on the books as a known and documented leak at that address on June 20, 2022, when the injury explosion occurred, is the one that I discovered yesterday that was actually a grade 1 hazardous leak in an explosive condition. #DPUInvestigation
Places initially said (then retracted w/out explanation) by #Eversource to be part of the causal chain associated w 4/6/23 #WalnutStreetGasExplosions:
Top: 79 Walnut St., next to Newton Education Ctr.
2.3 miles from 2023 explosion site.
Middle: 374 Homer St., location of 2022 injury explosion, coinciding with a documented live superemitter gas leak, and found to be grade 1 explosive yesterday.
0.8 miles from ‘23 explosion site.
Bottom: Walnut St. x Lakewood Rd., site of explosions of 4/6/23.
Map of 13.8 kV underground Eversource cables. Black line indicates connectivity across 2.3 miles between the 3 locations initially implicated by #Eversource in the #WalnutStreetGasExplosions
https://eversource.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=7b13d31f908243e49406f198b359aa71
https://eversource.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=7b13d31f908243e49406f198b359aa71
Leak prone cast iron pipelines co-located with most of this stretch of 13.8 kV underground cable are designated as “critical mains” (green) operating at 22 PSI (blue), >40X the standard low pressure distribution system.