Alva Review-Courier -

BOSTON (AP) — Natural gas companies in Massachusetts are compromising safety by increasingly turning to outside contractors for pipeline work while cutting back on staff that would oversee these projects, state lawmakers said Tuesday at a hearing following September's natural gas explosions in the Merrimack Valley.

"There are fewer full-time employees in many of your operations than was the case five to ten years ago at a time when you're undertaking accelerated construction activity," state Sen. Michael Barrett, a Lexington Democrat, said to utility company executives testifying at Tuesday's...