A natural gas company is working to restore service to thousands of customers in Colorado after the vandalism that damaged the lines and forced the gas to be turned off, leaving residents without heating and hot water.
According a statement On Monday, from Black Hills Energy’s vice president of operations, Vance Crocker, the teams were working to bring more than 3,500 gas meters into Aspen back online, a process that “requires several steps”.
“We must first make sure that all gas meters are turned off and then purge the system so that it is ready for the reintroduction of the natural gas supply,” added Crocker. “Finally, our technicians will go from door to door and rekindle each customer’s gas appliances.”
According KUSA, an affiliate of NBC in Denver, Crocker said during a community meeting on Monday that the gas line restoration process was scheduled to take place on Tuesday, with 150 technicians assigned to work on the problem and 4,000 heaters being distributed during repairs.
The Aspen Times reported that gas lines across the city were found damaged, named after the environmental protection organization Earth First! written on a tube at one of three Black Hills Energy locations that were vandalized.
It was not clear until Monday whether members of the organization were directly involved in the damage, according to the Aspen newspaper.
“They would have to have some familiarity with the system” to carry out the sabotage, Bill Linn, Aspen’s assistant police chief, said Monday.
“They have tampered with the flow lines. They shut down the gas lines, ”he continued.
Linn added that the police received no communication from Earth First! in response to the damage.
At Monday’s community meeting, Aspen police chief Richard Pryor said a multi-jurisdictional investigation was underway to determine who was behind the vandalism and how they managed to carry it out.
Linn said on Monday that the FBI was assisting local detectives in the investigation, as well as state police, according to the Times.
Pitkin County Commissioner Patti Clapper, who was unheated on Monday at her home in the Smuggler Mountain area, called the vandalism “an act of terrorism”.
“He is trying to destroy a community in the mountains at the height of the holiday season,” continued Clapper, the Times reported. “This was not a national gas problem. This was a purposeful act. “
Pitkin County sheriff Joe DiSalvo said on Monday that he was hesitant to characterize the incident as an attack.
“I know that word has been spread around a lot,” he said. “It is not a word I would use”, instead calling the vandalism “an intentional act” to stop the gas service for Aspen.