PG&E broke laws before San Bruno, state finds
Jaxon Van Derbeken, SF Chronicle
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. broke numerous state and federal safety laws leading up to the San Bruno gas-pipeline disaster, including failing to inspect the line for flaws after twice spiking the pipe's gas level beyond the legal limit, state regulators said Thursday.
Had PG&E conducted an inspection using high-pressure water, as called for by federal law, it would doubtless have discovered that the pipeline running under San Bruno was substandard, the California Public Utilities Commission said. That discovery would have averted the 2010 explosion that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes, the commission said in a report on the disaster and the factors that caused it.
The five commission members voted unanimously at their meeting in San Francisco to adopt the findings of the 171-page staff report, the first step in a process that could result in PG&E being fined hundreds of millions of dollars for safety violations.
The commission issued its findings less than six months after the National Transportation Safety Board took it to task for its lax oversight of PG&E's gas operations before the explosion of the 30-inch gas-transmission line Sept. 9, 2010.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/12/MNPA1MONMU.DTL&ao=all
= new reply since forum marked as read
