Enstar, union dispute

WASILLA — Natural gas stopped pouring out of a broken line Tuesday along the Parks Highway, but the facts surrounding the break and Enstar’s response remain highly combustible.

The Frontiersman followed the call on emergency radio and posted a Facebook status update and followed up later that morning with a story. Enstar did not return calls for comment at that time. They did comment to an Alaska Dispatch News reporter the next day, and provided that reporter a substantially different timeline for the incident that does not jive with scanner traffic, the Department of Transportation, or on scene reports from the incident commander, Central Mat-Su Chief James Steele.

The story became farther tangled Wednesday when officials with the striking UA Local 367 Union issued a press release alleging Enstar — the company operating the breached gas line — of lying in an attempt to downplay the leak’s severity and the company’s response. Union officials also alleged the scramble to fix the break using non-union labor may have resulted in the use of sub-standard materials for the repair and increased the overall risk to the community.

In addition, striking workers say they had told the company they’d cross picket lines to help in emergency situations, but that they were not called to respond when the 4-inch line was breached Tuesday around 9 a.m.

“It took Enstar over one hour to shut down the blowing gas, and Enstar’s handling of the incident was incompetent,” the union’s release reads in part.

Asked about the lack of agreement between the timeline for the incident Enstar provided and timelines from other official sources, utility spokesman John Sims said the company stands by the veracity of its statement.

According to the Enstar timeline, the breach lasted five minutes, from 9:10 a.m. to 9:15 a.m., Aug. 12.

But that timeframe differs substantially from the timeline provided by local emergency services personnel, who say the breakage and ensuing repairs took about an hour to complete.

Radio reports indicated a “code green,” in other words, the final all-clear, was issued at 10:03 a.m. Scanner chatter during the incident reported in the same burst of traffic around 10 a.m. that the breach had been isolated, emergency units should cease responding, and that the Parks Highway and side roads could be re-opened to traffic.

According to Mat-Su Borough Deputy EMS manager Clint Vardeman, gas was still leaking when Central Mat-Su Chief James Steele and two engines responded to the scene at 9:35 a.m., roughly five minutes after emergency responders were first contacted. Shortly after their arrival, Enstar officials recommended evacuating the area within one kilometer — or about half a mile — of the gas break, according to Vardeman.

Company responders were still trying to pinch off the break when responders arrived, Steele said. Responders closed the Parks Highway, Lucus Road and Hallea Lane.

“At that point, we still had a gas leak,” he said. “I spoke with an Enstar rep who said they were still digging and were trying to uncover sufficient pipe to see if they could clamp it off.”

One unit was placed on Lucas in order to seal off that road to provide a safety waterline for workers at the site in case of ignition, and another unit was sent down to the site to offer any other assistance about 10 a.m., according to Steele.

“When he went to check on the operation at 10:02, we received word that it was clamped,” he said.

Neither Steele nor Vardeman could account for the difference between borough records and the Enstar company statement. When Enstar spokesman was asked to clarify he referred the Frontiersman to a one-sentence statement issued by the company and declined farther comment.

“Enstar stands behind the information reported in the Alaska Dispatch story and will continue to provide safe and reliable service,” Sims wrote in an email.

Chief Steele said he can’t explain the difference between his timeline and Enstar’s.

“I could only speculate, but I hate to speculate,” he said. “To have us dispatched, that’s a good response to get that clamped off in half an hour.”

Emergency responders’ times match those included in a report filed with Enstar by the contractor, Quality Asphalt Paving, which reported that the breakage was discovered at 9:05 a.m., and that gas shut-off occurred at 10 a.m., with crews on scene until 2 p.m.

Reporting of the incident also was delayed by the strike, union officials said, in part because the company did not place anyone on standby to assist with the dig, and because operations employees were on strike, the contractor had difficulty reporting the break to Enstar.

Using contractors to do this work at all — as opposed to Enstar employees — was dangerous, said UA Local 367 Business Manager Greg Walker.

“There’s guys that have been doing this work for 30 years,” he said. “They don’t see a lot of these 4-inch lines blowing.

“I think the community should be very concerned,” Walker added. “We don’t know what their (the contractor’s) qualifications are.”

In addition to the irreconcilable accounts of the break’s duration, the union statement says that substandard piping may have been used to repair the break in the 4-inch gas main. The only source of pre-tested DOT gas pipe was in the Enstar yard, according to the union statement. Union picketers yards away from the storage yard say they saw no one enter the yard to retrieve the appropriate material.

“The union has serious questions about whether DOT regulations were followed in making this repair,” the press release reads.

The bottom line is that Enstar’s response during the strike made a dangerous situation worse, Walker said.

“Instead of Enstar responding by calling employees right away, it took much longer to respond creating some unnecessary danger,” he said.

The strike “is terrible for the employees, terrible for the company, and terrible for the community,” Walker added.

Operations employees with UA Local 367 voted to reject a pension offer for the company last week, and struck effective 6 a.m. Monday. About a dozen employees have picketed the Enstar location along the Palmer-Wasilla Highway since the strike began with folding chairs and coolers.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.