Xcel Energy and North Dakota Public Service Commission staffs are negotiating a settlement agreement related to a natural gas explosion in Fargo that severely burned a woman.
Commission staffers have issued an amended notice of probable violation against Xcel in connection with the Sept. 2, 2008, blast that leveled a twinhome unit at 2215 15th St. S.
The amended notice, which reduced the number of probable violations from three to one, claims Xcel "failed to perform a documented failure investigation of the incident."
Xcel has said its participation in a third-party analysis of the natural gas pipe and review of the results "constituted the necessary investigation."
The probable violation carries a proposed civil penalty of $10,000.
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A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Oct. 12. However, the attorney for the PSC's advocacy staff, Illona Jeffcoat-Sacco, asked the commission in a letter Tuesday to remove the hearing from the calendar to allow settlement negotiations to continue.
Xcel didn't request the hearing, so it isn't re-quired, Jeffcoat-Sacco noted in the letter. If the commission decides to hold the hearing, she suggested a date later in the year.
Eight family members injured in the blast reached a settlement with Xcel a year later. The settlement amount was not disclosed.
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