A spark away from catastrophe

By Jeff German

Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009 | 2 a.m.

The heavily traveled stretch of Eastern Avenue near Tropicana was busy as usual on the morning of Jan. 8. But on that particular Thursday, the hundreds of people driving to work and taking their children to school were lucky that half-mile-long stretch of roadway didn’t explode — and Clark County would have been to blame if it had, according to state authorities.

For several hours until the smell was reported to authorities at about 7 a.m. that day, the storm drain under the street had been filling with natural gas. If any ignition source — a lighted cigarette thrown from a car window, for example — had found its way into a storm drain in the area, the result would have been “catastrophic,” according to an affidavit filed by a gas pipeline engineer for the Public Utilities Commission.

And, he warned, if the gas had escaped into any of the nearby businesses or the sewer collection system, where there were more potential sources of ignition, the risk of explosion would have been much greater. The intersection has strip malls on three corners, one containing an animal hospital, and a discount furniture warehouse near the fourth. There are restaurants on all four corners.

The report of the “rotten eggs” smell led to a massive response by emergency crews. They closed Eastern from Tropicana Avenue south to Hacienda Avenue, evacuated a nearby children’s day care center and shut off the gas supply to 1,400 homes in the area.

The danger didn’t subside until about 11 a.m., after Southwest Gas Corp. engineers fixed a gas pipeline that had been ruptured by a county contractor. After the construction crew struck the gas line, the gas seeped into the storm drain.

The county’s failure to mark a storm drain on the street increased the risk of a disaster, Nevada Public Utilities Commission lawyers allege.

The attorneys want the commission to hold a public hearing on whether to fine the county up to $100,000 for willfully violating state laws requiring the marking of storm drains and underground pipelines, and they are threatening to go to District Court to stop the construction project along a 6-mile stretch of Eastern, which they contend could result in another similarly dangerous situation.

The county is “exhibiting a blatant disregard” for the law and “posing further risk of substantial damage, injury or death” by allowing the continued installation of underground fiber optic cable along Eastern, the attorneys charged in documents filed with the commission.

The attorneys are also asking the commission to conduct a hearing on whether to fine the project’s contractor, MasTec North America Inc., for negligence. The commission is to take up the requests Wednesday.

In papers filed with the PUC, Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Figgins said the county contends it has not violated the law. Figgins said the county and other local governments have long followed a practice that manhole covers and drop inlets satisfy the marking requirements for storm drains. It is a practice that has not drawn any previous objections from the PUC, he said.

Attorneys for MasTec also have denied any wrongdoing in a response filed with the PUC.

But in their papers requesting sanctions against the county and its contractor, commission attorneys said the county has ignored requests from state investigators to mark storm drains and sewer mains elsewhere along the fiber optic project route since the Jan. 8 gas leak.

Ken Jones, a gas pipeline engineer for the PUC, said in an affidavit that the county’s failure to mark the storm drain there may have played a role in MasTec’s striking of the gas line. And because the storm drain was so close to the pipeline, once the leak occurred there was a “ready enclosure for the escaping natural gas to occupy, greatly increasing the resultant hazard that was created,” Jones wrote.

Gas had escaped into the storm drain for several hours before the leak was first reported, and continued to flow into the drainage system for several more hours until the leak was repaired, Jones said.

Jones said he was concerned about the rest of the fiber optic project on Eastern because there are numerous gas pipelines and unmarked storm drains and sewer lines along the construction route.

“Therefore, I believe there is the possibility of similar events occurring that could cause injury, death or damage if the project continues without storm drain pipes and sewer mains marked,” he said.

PUC investigators said they have found other construction sites in the county since Jan. 8, where storm drains and sewer mains have not been marked.

The commission’s attorneys said they believe they are on sound legal footing going to court to stop the Eastern Avenue project until the county agrees to start marking the storm drains and sewer lines. Because of the safety concerns, the lawyers said they have authority to take legal action “expeditiously” against the county without obtaining the commission’s permission.

As of Monday the lawyers had not sought a preliminary injunction in court.

If the PUC finds that the county has violated the law, the PUC can fine the county $1,000 a day, up to $100,000.

Jeff German is the Sun’s senior investigative reporter.