Colorado utilities regulators Wednesday will begin work on rules to improve safety inspections of pipelines like the one that leaked gas and destroyed Mark and Julie Nygren’s home
A pair of sugar beet and corn farmers would seem an unlikely duo to take on the oil and gas industry and the state’s biggest utilities over the issue of pipeline safety, but that is exactly what Mark and Julie Nygren have done.
The Nygrens’ battle before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission is now close to bearing fruit as the commission is slated to take up draft rules Wednesday. The comprehensive pipeline safety regulations were required by Senate Bill 108.
The new rules will come none too soon, state Sen. Tammy Story, a Democrat from Conifer who was a prime sponsor of the 2021 legislation, said. A Colorado State Auditor review in May found widespread shortcomings in the PUC’s inspection program.
