Natural gas resumed pumping into Washington from Canada early Thursday, having been halted since Tuesday by a pipeline rupture near Prince George, British Columbia.
Western Washington utilities told their customers Thursday they can return to normal use of hot water and electricity after a shortage of Canadian natural gas that they rely on was resolved. The disruption to garbage collection also ended.
Natural gas resumed pumping into Washington from Canada early Thursday, having been halted since Tuesday by a pipeline rupture near Prince George, British Columbia, according to Puget Sound Energy, Washington’s biggest private energy utility company. Cascade Natural Gas, another company impacted by the stoppage, said Thursday morning that its customers no longer needed to curtail their usage, according to an emailed statement.
Garbage pickups in King and Snohomish counties that were canceled Thursday will resume on Friday, Waste Management Northwest said on its website. The pickups were suspended to save the natural gas used by trucks that collect the waste.
In Seattle, residents whose pickups were scheduled Thursday will receive service on Friday. Friday customers will have their garbage picked up on Saturday. Residents in Kirkland, Redmond, Mill Creek, Auburn, Federal Way, Algona and unincorporated King and Snohomish counties may place a double load on their next service day at no additional charge, Waste Management said.
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Sound Transit said it substituted some of its buses that use the fuel with smaller ones, but service was back to normal by Thursday afternoon, spokeswoman Rachelle Cunningham said.
Tuesday’s rupture in the natural-gas pipeline that brings the fuel from underground deposits in Alberta and British Columbia into Washington had completely cut off its flow, forcing companies that use it to produce electricity to issue calls to hundreds of thousands of their customers to cut consumption in order to avoid power outages.