Feds indict utility for mercury hazard in Pawtucket

PROVIDENCE – Southern Union Co., the Houston-based owner of New England Gas Co., was indicted last week by a federal grand jury on hazardous waste charges.
The company faces two charges of illegally storing mercury at a facility on Tidewater Street in Pawtucket from 2002 to 2004 and one charge of failing to properly report mercury spillage there after a 2004 break-in. If convicted on all three counts, it faces maximum possible fines of $67.35 million. The indictment – the product of an investigation by state and federal environmental regulators – states that the mercury accumulated at the site when New England Gas continued to collect mercury-containing flow regulators from customers’ homes after its waste-removal contract for the devices expired in 2001.
“We are extremely disappointed that the U.S. Attorney’s Office is pursuing this matter, when we were the victims of a crime,” Southern Union said in a statement. “We will defend ourselves vigorously and expect to be vindicated at trial.” The company sold the former Providence Gas to National Grid Plc in 2006, but still owns New England Gas Co. •