Merrimack Valley Gas Explosions

The first $70 million in settlement payments to people affected by a series of natural gas explosions in Massachusetts in 2018 will be mailed Friday.

A 42-year Columbia Gas employee said his bosses ignored repeated warning about potential safety issues. But not federal investigators, who used the retired utility worker’s testimony to help build their criminal case. On Wednesday, Bart Maderios reacted to the federal criminal charges against his former employer. “I cried for days. It devastated me for months,” Maderios said of the...

Columbia Gas will pay a $53 million criminal fine for breaking a federal pipeline safety law and plead guilty to causing a series of natural gas explosions in Massachusetts that killed one person and damaged dozens of homes, federal officials announced Wednesday.