DENVER – Black Hills Energy crews continued to work Monday afternoon to shut down gas service to about 3,500 customers after three of their sites were destroyed over the weekend, and officials in Pitkin County said those customers in the Aspen area had no heating. and hot water would stay until at least Tuesday morning.
One of the Saturday night demolitions was in the town of Aspen and the other two were in Pitkin County. Officials from both the county and city said Monday afternoon that a criminal investigation was underway.
The vandalism was spotted Saturday night after customers reported that the gas pressure had dropped, and as the investigation continued on Sunday, Black Hills Energy discovered more problems with gas pipelines and began to shut down meters for affected customers.
Vance Crocker, the vice president of operations for Black Hills Energy, said Monday afternoon that the crews hoped the entire system was shut down early Monday evening, and that the crews would then go to each of the customers’ locations to make sure that the lines will be sanitized and can hopefully and safely be switched back on Monday at 11 p.m. Black Hills Energy plans to employ about 100 workers from across the state to fix the outage.
“We must first ensure that all gas meters are off, and then flush the system so that it is ready for the reintroduction of the natural gas supply. Finally, our technicians will go door to door and re-light each customer’s gas appliances, ”Crocker said in a statement.
Black Hills Energy crews will then begin relighting the pilot lights and other gas-fired appliances at 5 a.m. Tuesday, provincial officials said. They ask that no one try to light their appliances again. People can call 888-890-5554 with non-urgent questions.
The FBI has been called in to assist with the investigation as it involves critical utility infrastructure, and the investigation is being led by Aspen Police Department, according to APD’s Bill Linn.
Linn said the vandalism all happened around the same time on Saturday and was accompanied by vandalism from closed gas lines and two of the three sites were open and not in buildings.
One site had the name of a group, Earth First, written on it, but officials declined to explain on Monday whether the name was related to the vandalism. He said he did not believe the vandalism would be classified as terrorism.
“The word ‘attack’ has been thrown around a lot,” said Joe DiSalvo, spokesman for the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office. ‘It’s not the word I would use. It was a deliberate attack to disrupt gas service in and around Aspen. “
Physical evidence, including footprints, has been recovered in all three scenes, officials said.
Crimes under investigation include endangering a public benefit, burglary and criminal tampering, Linn said.
A tip line for the inquiry is set at 970-924-0614. The district jail runs on electric heating, DiSalvo said.
Linn said a limited number of space heaters supplied by Black Hills Energy are available for collection from the Aspen Police Station, located at 540 East Main Street. They were gone at 6:20 PM, but said 3,600 were still on the way.
The city is asking people to park on the north side of Main Street or in parking lots in front of the Concept 600 building. People who pull up and open their passenger windows receive heaters for contactless distribution.
People who cannot get to the police station can request one by calling 970-920-5310 and an officer will bring one as soon as possible.
Pitkin County and the city of Aspen will hold a community meeting on Zoom Monday at 6pm, which you can attend by clicking here.
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