Phila. gas explosion not a threat to Penn's gas mains

Despite a fatal Philadelphia Gas Works explosion in Northeast Philadelphia Jan. 18, administrators are confident in the company’s ability to service Penn.

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the explosion of a natural gas main last week killed a PGW employee and left six people injured.

“What happened this last week was not a regular occurrence in PGW’s history,” said Cameron Kline, director of Corporate Communications for PGW.

“We have been around for 175 years,” Kline said, adding that the last fatality of an employee on the job was in 1979.

“We work very hard every day in the cold and in the heat to make sure the system works,” he said.

PGW owns all of Philadelphia’s public natural-gas pipes, including those surrounding Penn’s campus.

Martin Redman, executive director of College Houses and Academic Services, said he has “no concerns” about a similar gas emergency at Penn.

“I’m not concerned any more than normal about students and facilities being in jeopardy,” Redman said.

In fact, the recent emergency might make PGW employees “triple [their] efforts at safety on the job, and … be even more conscious and careful,” he said.

However, Redman expressed concern about the construction of a gas pipe on 38th Street. The construction sometimes goes through the night, disrupting the sleep of students in Stouffer College House, he said.

Most of Penn’s college houses use very little gas, said Alan Zuino, associate director of Building Operations of Housing and Conference Services.

All stoves in college houses use electricity instead of gas as a fuel source, according to Redman.

College houses only use gas to fuel electric generators, Zuino said. Moreover, not every building contains a generator because some generators are able to service multiple buildings.

Some buildings, such as McClelland Hall, have no gas pipes running to them, Redman added.

All gas mains around Penn’s campus are contained under public roads, according to Zuino.

Natural gas is odorless, he added. However, the addition of Mercaptan — which smells of “rotten eggs” — alerts people to a gas leak.

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