For Immediate Release
July 9, 2010
Contact: Chad Kister (740) 753-3888 or chadkister@gmail.com
Weatherization Program Causes Gas Leak, Refuses to Fix It
With my doors and windows open, the gas company meter read .3 percent in one area, and .1 percent in the ambient air. Columbia Gas refused to name the gas company representative who was testing the gas levels in my house. He told me that there was no gas, until I asked to look at his meter, which showed that gas was present. I then asked him to confirm that the gas meter showed .1 percent gas in the air, with my doors and windows open, fans running, and a strong breeze. He did confirm the reading. A few minutes earlier, I had seen his meter at .3 percent. Because I only saw the meter during a small portion of the time that he walked around my house, which had a very strong odor of natural gas, I suspect much higher readings.
A gas company representative later confirmed that a detection of .1 percent is a serious issue, and that the gas should have been shut off. Instead, I had to ask the gas company representative who came to my house to turn off the gas, and he only told me that turning the gas back on would require a fee.
On the website www.firerescue1.com, Michael Lee, with 25 years experience in pre-hospital paramedic experience and about 20 years experience in the fire service wrote, "Only allow building occupants back into the structure if the gas monitor levels have been reduced to 0 percent, and the gas company service representative concurs."
State standards mandate that natural gas be detectable, using odorizing agents, at levels of .15 percent. Because I had my doors and windows open, explosive levels were likely present in my house because COAD representative Mike L. caused a gas leak during an inspection for a weatherization work order.
Now, COAD refuses to provide documents that they have about me, and they hang up on my when I call them. While I qualify for the program, I have received only damage from the weatherization program that I lobbied to enact as an environmental activist.
I suspect it is the corruption in government because of the strong influence of the coal industry in the southeast Ohio area. I am three for three in my lawsuits against corrupt police, in part because of their conspiring with the coal industry to violate my civil liberties. This is not paranoia, I have $90,000 in settlement money and thousands of pages of court documents to prove it. The question is why in 2010 do we continue to have this level of corruption?
It is similar to the corruption in the Minerals Management Service that led to the BP oil spill. Obama needs to focus more attention on rooting out government corruption and protecting civil rights.
Athens County Sheriff Deputy John Morris and another deputy witnessed the gas company representative testing .1 to .3 percent levels of natural gas in my house, with my doors and windows open, while standing just a few feet from my open door.
The Columbia Gas Representative also refused to acknowledge that there was a gas leak until I pointed it out on his own meter. Here is an audio clip of me with the Columbia Gas representative, with two Sheriff Deputies (one of them John Morris) witnessing:
Audio Clip: Columbia Gas Lies About Gas Leak in Chad Kister's House
Chad Kister
4592 Bessemer Rd.
Nelsonville, OH 47564