Hopkins utility pole death: Attorney calls for state investigation into Xcel inspections
Hopkins utility pole death: Attorney calls for state investigation into Xcel inspections
A Minneapolis attorney is demanding answers after a utility pole crashed onto a car and killed a young father in Hopkins. Minneapolis attorney Joshua Newville filed an 18-page letter with the Public Utilities Commission, asking the agency to look into Xcel Energy’s inspections process after the Aug. 23 utility pole accident that killed Kenny Green, 31. FOX 9's Mike Manzoni has the story.
HOPKINS, Minn. (FOX 9) - A Minneapolis attorney is demanding answers after a utility pole crashed onto a car and killed a young father in Hopkins.
‘Someone has died’: Attorney calls for investigation
What we know:
Minneapolis attorney Joshua Newville filed an 18-page letter with the Public Utilities Commission, asking the agency to look into Xcel Energy’s inspections process after the Aug. 23 utility pole accident that killed Kenny Green, 31.
"Why did it just fall and kill a young father? It didn't get run into — we know that. There wasn't any weather event happening at the time. Something else is missing," he said.
Newville said the incident raises "serious questions" about how the utility handles pole safety, and he is concerned that state regulators are not providing adequate oversight.
"There may be a systemic failure on Xcel's part to adequately investigate the safety of these poles," he said.
Xcel's inspection history and what it found
The backstory:
Xcel said it last inspected the pole in 2023, and found it had 93% strength remaining. It passed all required safety standards.
Google Street View images show the pole leaning as far back as 2019. A structural engineer, Pedram Mortazavi, pointed to that lean as a possible clue.
"There could have been an initial impact earlier on, which maybe was not reported, that could have caused the initial lean," said Mortazavi, who noted that poles should not lean.
Utilities oversight
The Public Utilities Commission regulates utilities in the state but said it does not investigate deadly pole accidents. That leaves Xcel alone to investigate its own equipment, something Newville finds deeply troubling.
"The initial responses have seemed to suggest that Xcel is in charge of policing itself, and there really aren't a whole lot of people keeping an eye on how they do that," he said.
The agency also said that utilities are only required to notify it once a year about any safety issues. The commission did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Newville put it plainly: "We can't honestly believe that Xcel is going to just, out of the goodness of its heart, regulate itself," he said. "Someone has died, and we need to look into whether this can happen again."
"Utility poles don't just fall over and kill young fathers on random days of the week. Like that – that's absurd," he added.
Xcel still investigating pole failure
The other side:
In a statement on Thursday night, Xcel said: "We inspect all of our poles on a rotating schedule following industry best practices. The process involves a visual inspection as well as excavation around the base of the pole to perform a core test in the location where poles typically degrade the fastest. These measures help us assess the pole’s overall strength. We also apply a preservative treatment to the outside of the pole during inspections to prevent weathering and decay. This work is extensive, with 54,000 wood distribution poles in Minnesota inspected by our teams in 2023.
"Records from the 2023 inspection show that the full scope of testing was completed, and the pole was found to be in compliance with all required safety standards. However, the returned result (93% remaining strength) does not explain why this pole would fail. Our investigation is looking for that explanation, but we have not yet determined why the pole failed."