BGE whistleblowers allege gas safety failures in new filing, company denies wrongdoing

CBS News

3 days ago

In a new filing, former Baltimore Gas and Electric employees are accusing the company of widespread safety failures after a former inspector falsified reports on gas pipeline work.
The whistleblowers claim that an unredacted investigative report by the PSC confirms that BGE misled the commission about the job responsibilities of a discredited inspector.
The original report was issued on April 11 by the PSC's Engineering Division as part of its investigation into the falsified gas pipeline work. It was heavily redacted after an order to remove all but personal identifying information, according to David Baña, the attorney for the whistleblowers.
The whistleblowers claim that the unredacted report provides evidence that BGE downplayed the responsibilities of the discredited employee in its response to the PSC's report, in an effort to avoid taking responsibility for gas pipeline safety oversights.
"The revised public version, filed as an exhibit to a filing last week Thursday, contradicts BGE's claims that the inspector's job duties had nothing to do with safety and that he was only responsible for conducting 'spot checks' of contractor work," Baña wrote in a statement. "According to the job description and data supplied by BGE itself, the inspector was responsible for ensuring that gas pipeline construction adhered to all applicable BGE and jurisdictional safety standards—including those set forth in the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline Safety Regulations,"
But BGE says the employee was not responsible for safety inspections and that his role was simply to ensure that contractors' specific work aligned with contractual milestones.
"There is absolutely zero indication that the former employee's actions or inactions have compromised the safety and integrity of BGE's gas distribution system. Rather, this individual former employee's actions involved a personnel matter—one falsified report, which BGE discovered through its own investigation," BGE wrote in a response to the filing.
In December 2024, the group of former BGE employees petitioned the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) to intervene in BGE's rate proposal process.
The whistleblowers alleged that a BGE construction inspector falsified gas pipeline inspection records over a span of four years, regularly skipped required field inspections, and submitted false reports, with BGE management failing to hold the inspector accountable.
Although the PSC denied the initial petition, it launched an investigation.
In a report issued in April 2025, the PSC concluded that BGE did not adequately investigate or repair infrastructure potentially compromised by inspection fraud, which the commission warned could risk public safety and improperly charge ratepayers for incomplete work.
BGE disputed the whistleblowers' claims of safety oversights after the initial report was released.
The company said that only one falsified report existed, and that disciplinary action taken against the employee was based on poor performance, not fraud.
The utility company insisted there was no widespread pattern of falsification and denied reports of issues in 2023, contrary to the PSC's findings.
The company then filed a motion for contempt against the whistleblowers and Baña, claiming they violated court orders by publicly discussing details that could affect ongoing litigation, including sharing information with the press and on social media.
On July 8, a Baltimore court denied the contempt motion, siding with the whistleblowers and their legal team. Attorneys for the whistleblowers argued that BGE's legal actions were an attempt to silence critics and discourage them from reporting internal problems.