Editorial: Rustic Ridge report doesn't deliver final answer

Investigations give us answers.

They do not necessarily make us feel better.

On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission delivered an answer to a question lingering since August. Did the Peoples Gas service lines play a part in the Rustic Ridge explosion that claimed six lives, obliterated three homes and caused even more damage?

According to the PUC’s Safety Division, after an extensive investigation, the answer is no.

On the one hand, that’s good. It lets us all scratch one fear off the checklist.

But the answer is incomplete. It wasn’t Peoples Gas. Fine. What caused the destruction and loss of life? There are still no definitive causes almost a year later. The case is in the hands of the Allegheny County Fire Marshal.

According to PUC media contact Nils Hagen- Frederiksen, the investigation breaks down to what is outside the house — like the Peoples lines — and what is inside — like the stove or dryer or water heater that could use the energy provided by the utility.

This cause appears to be inside the home, Hagen-Frederiksen said. That would be consistent with fire marshal reports days after the explosion centering around a hot water tank at 141 Rustic Ridge, the home of victims Heather and Paul Oravitz.

The investigations have not jumped to conclusions. The Department of Environmental Protection was involved, inspecting gas and oil wells in the area. Possibilities are being reviewed. Data has been recorded.

It would be cathartic to find a problem to fix and a direction to focus the anger and sorrow and fear that comes with such a devastating loss to the community.

We found with the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse when the National Transportation Safety Board was able to condemn years of neglect by the city of Pittsburgh and failures by state and federal inspectors. On Friday, the NTSB delivered another final report — this one on the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment. It placed blame for the 38-car catastrophe on one car’s bearing failure and the towering plumes of black smoke on an unnecessary decision to burn toxic material.

But sometimes an investigation denies people that resolution. It doesn’t deliver closure.

The PUC has given people an answer about the Rustic Ridge explosion. It just hasn’t given the answer — the one that solves the puzzle.