Accidental damage to aging natural gas pipelines in Mississippi are a leading cause of accidents, newspaper investigations found. The Clarion-Ledger , a Mississippi newspaper, teamed up with USA Today to examine records on the network of natural gas pipelines in Mississippi. They said state laws mandating the public notify authorities before any land excavation aren’t enforced . “So many times, people will inadvertently hit a pipeline and, rather than call the gas company, they’ll wrap it or cover it up,” Mark McCarver, former director of the Mississippi Public Service Commission’s Pipeline Safety Division, said in an article published Tuesday. “That’s the No. 1 risk.” The newspapers found more than 48 percent of the state’s pipelines were installed before 1970, versus a national average of 38 percent. The […]