Hearing ordered on gas leak at Vegas intersection

By Cy Ryan

Published Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009 | 4:57 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009 | 5:37 p.m.

CARSON CITY – The state Public Utilities Commission has ordered a show cause hearing for Clark County and a contractor to explain why they should not be penalized for a natural gas leak at a busy Las Vegas intersection last month.

A spokesman for the commission said the hearing will determine what went wrong on Jan. 8, when MasTec North America crews ruptured a natural gas line while installing fiber optic conduct along Eastern Avenue near Tropicana Avenue. Mastec was working under a contract with Clark County.

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.

The staff of the PUC maintains Clark County violated the law by failing to mark the location of underground storm drains along Eastern.

Clark County was told to mark underground facilities within the work area on Dec. 3, officials said. Marking the storm drains and sewer lines would show where nearby natural gas lines run and alert contractors to be cautious when digging in the area, according to PUC staff.

Bobby Shelton, a spokesman for Clark County Public Works, said the county hadn’t marked storm drains in the past. Contractors trying to locate storm drains just lined up the manholes in the area to get the alignment of the drains, Shelton said.

The staff of the PUC considered seeking an injunction to stop further excavation. Sean Sever, public information officer for the PUC, said such a move was no longer necessary because Clark County is now complying with the requirement to mark underground installations to prevent a further accident.

“Pre conference” meetings will be held before the commission hearing, Sever said.

The PUC has the authority to impose a fine of $1,000 a day up to $100,000.

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