CenterPoint faces fine after Southern Indiana residents were exposed to carbon monoxide
CenterPoint Energy could be fined $125,000 after a mistake at a Clarksville, Indiana, plant exposed area residents to carbon monoxide just before Christmas.
The Pipeline Safety Division of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission cited CenterPoint with four violations stemming from the incident, which forced dozens of Clark and Floyd county residents to leave their homes between Dec. 23 and Dec. 24.
At least four Clarksville residents had to be taken to the hospital, the News and Tribune reported, and firefighters in that town responded to more than 100 carbon monoxide calls. There were emergency runs in New Albany, as well.
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“People reported malfunctioning appliances at their homes and businesses, some that shot flames into the air,” the newspaper wrote.
What happened in Clarksville, Indiana?
According to the pipeline division’s report released on Wednesday, CenterPoint initially blamed the issues on residents’ individual appliances. In a statement to Clarksville officials on Dec. 27, CenterPoint spokeswoman Natalie Hedde claimed the majority of the issues stemmed from “improper appliance venting,” as well as equipment working hard to keep up with extreme cold.
That turned out not to be the case, the IURC found.
After an investigation by CenterPoint, the IURC and the third-party company Standby Systems, officials mapped the origin of the problems to the Clarksville liquid propane plant, also known as a “peak shaving” facility.
Clarksville and the rest of Southern Indiana experienced brutally cold temperatures around Christmas, causing residents’ need for natural gas to rise.
According to Standby Systems, liquid propane is often injected into natural gas delivery systems during those high-usage times to supplement demand and keep homes heated. The Clarksville propane plant, which has been operating since 1970s, is used during those times.
However, in order for propane to vaporize, it must be heated to at least 140 degrees. The IURC found CenterPoint only heated the propane going into the Clarksville plant to 120 degrees, meaning liquid propane was being flushed into the system, where it then re-vaporized.
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That caused an excess of propane, leading to the carbon monoxide issues, the report stated.
“Clarksville LP plant did not have the proper sensor or failsafe to catch that the propane had not been reached the correct temperature,” the report read.
What violations were CenterPoint cited for?
IURC hit CenterPoint with four violations:
Failure to properly operate the Clarksville plant.
Failure to train and maintain a liaison between itself and area firefighters and Emergency Management Agency workers.
Failure to document its compliance with a state law “which requires procedures for handling abnormal operations.”
And a failure to “report to the Division within one hour as required the occurrence of multiple same event calls, as well as a significant event that involved the Emergency Management Agency creating a press release.”
CenterPoint has 30 days to respond. According to the report, “CenterPoint has committed to performing additional operations and maintenance measures to ensure the remediation of affected equipment, including regulator stations.”
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The utility also shut down the Clarksville plant through the end of 2023, the News and Tribune reported.
How did lawmakers respond to the violations?
Still, that wasn’t enough for some Southern Indiana lawmakers. Both Rep. Rita Fleming, D-Jeffersonville, and Rep. Ed Clere, R-New Albany, told the News and Tribune that CenterPoint should fully reimburse any customers who had to shell out money in the wake of the exposure.
Clere singled out one constituent who had to pay for a new boiler – which he said worked until the incident.
“(CenterPoint) needs to step up and do the right thing,” he told the News and Tribune. “They should be thankful they’re not dealing with wrongful death claims.”
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: CenterPoint faces fine after Southern Indiana carbon monoxide incident
