Kent has joined a list of area cities that have suspended directional drilling operations following a gas line explosion in a Twinsburg Township residential area June 25.
“The Kent Fire Department was able to get more information on what transpired in the Twinsburg explosion,” the city posted on Facebook June 26, “and the city administration has issued a notice to temporarily suspend right of way permits for any directional boring work in Kent out of an abundance of caution.”
The post goes on to say that the fire department had begun hand delivering suspension notices to fiber-optic internet companies. The suspensions are immediate and will remain in effect until further notice.
The police and fire departments will respond to any reports of drilling that come in over the weekend, the post says.
Twinsburg, Hudson, Stow, Green and Streetsboro previously posted on Facebook they were also suspending such drilling operations.
Kent Ward 6 City Council Member Jeff Clapper said in an Instagram video June 26 that he had been working since early morning with City Manager Dave Ruller and city staff to get the suspension in place.
Clapper said the issue hit close to home for him.
“We finally got a stop order in place and not more than a few minutes later, my phone rang and I found out they had hit a gas line directly in front of my house,” said Clapper. “So I raced home to find the fire department here and the gas company here. We got the all clear now and they’re working on fixing it but when the state legislature gives free rein to utility companies to do whatever they want to do in the right-of-way, these are the kinds of things that happen. It’s just one more example of profits over people.”
The Twinsburg Township explosion destroyed three homes and damaged 23 others. The Twinsburg Fire Department reported one person suffered non-life threatening injuries. No fatalities were reported.
An hour before the explosion, the Twinsburg Fire Department and Summit County Sheriff’s Office responded to the residential area on the east side of State Route 91. They issued an emergency shelter-in-place order for residents, and Enbridge Ohio, the natural gas company, arrived and had started an investigation when the explosion occurred.
A gas line was aslo struck in New Franklin June 26 but there was no explosion.
Reporter Jeff Saunders can be reached at jsaunders@recordpub.com.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Kent joins in suspending drilling following Twinsburg Twp. explosion
Reporting by Jeff Saunders, Ravenna Record-Courier / Record-Courier
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jeff Saunders, Ravenna Record-Courier | USA TODAY Network
