To the editor:
The article in this week’s paper about the gas leak (“No Boom, Some Bust”) contains a possibly erroneous statement that “contractors...struck an area around the high pressure line, dislodging and ‘unrestrained end cap’…,” followed by “Removing the end cap allowed thousands of gallons of high pressure gas to escape.”  This could lead a reader to believe that the contractor actually hit the high pressure line or the end cap, and thereby “removed” it.  Since I am quoted both before and after this passage, the reader might also think I said these things. I did not. What I did say was that there was no evidence that the pipe or the cap had been “hit” by the construction equipment, but that National Grid was investigating this matter further. I further said that, when the contractor began removing a section of old water main, against which the end cap may have been wedged (which also deserves to be investigated), the leak occurred, apparently because the cap had come off. To my knowledge, there is no conclusive evidence at this point that the contractor “hit” anything, or that  either the contractor or another party was solely responsible for what happened. Under circumstances like this, we all need to choose our words carefully.  Having said this, I thank the Times-Gazette for its reporting on this matter and for helping us keeping the public as informed as possible.
Jan H. Reitsma
Main Street
Mr. Reitsma is the Warren Town Manager.