A federal judge has ruled that Pennsylvania utility regulators must hand over inspection records to the National Transportation Safety Board as part of the investigation into a fatal explosion at a chocolate factory. The explosion at the R.M. Palmer Co. plant in West Reading last year killed seven people and caused extensive damage.
The federal safety board had requested five years’ worth of inspection records from UGI Utilities Inc., the natural gas utility at the center of the probe. However, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission had refused to provide the records, citing a state law protecting confidential security information about utility infrastructure.
After the safety board issued a subpoena for the records, U.S. District Judge Christopher C. Conner sided with the federal agency, giving the utility regulators seven days to produce the documents in a way that complies with state law.
The safety board argued that the records are crucial to the investigation as they include assessments of UGI’s pipelines and leak investigation reports. Federal prosecutors representing the safety board emphasized the importance of determining whether the commission conducted proper oversight of UGI’s pipeline system in compliance with federal regulations.
The utility commission had offered federal investigators the opportunity to inspect the reports at their office or sign a nondisclosure agreement, but the safety board declined and issued the subpoena.
The federal investigation into the explosion is ongoing, and about 70 Palmer production workers and 35 office staff were present at the time of the blast. Employees reported smelling gas before the explosion and accused Palmer of ignoring warnings of a natural gas leak.
Palmer was fined by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for failing to evacuate the plant, but the company denied violating any safety standards and contested the citations.
The judge’s decision to compel the utility regulators to provide the inspection records marks a significant development in the investigation into the tragic explosion at the chocolate factory.
