Washington (October 11, 2018) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass) today responded to the preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in its investigation of the Merrimack Valley over-pressurization disaster. While this report provides some additional context on the timeline of events leading up to and directly following the incident—which left one person dead, more than 20 injured, and more than 130 houses damaged—there are still many outstanding questions about how this catastrophe could have occurred, whether it could have been prevented and whether Columbia Gas was adequately prepared to respond to a system-wide disaster. Senator Markey is a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, which has jurisdiction over the NTSB.

“The release of the preliminary report raises more questions than answers about how the Merrimack Valley disaster occurred, and I will not stop until we get each and every answer,” said Senator Markey. “We need to turn over every stone and shine a light on the workings of this company and the entire industry, so that people can both trust that their gas system is safe and verify that nothing like this will ever happen again. The fate of families and small businesses depends on it.” 

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