PG&E could have 'junked' pipe in its system

[ensho]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/20/MNIK1LJ4RK.DTL


State regulators have uncovered evidence that suggests Pacific Gas and Electric Co. installed "salvaged or junked transmission pipe" on its natural-gas system in the 1940s and '50s, raising fears that a problem like the one that caused the San Bruno disaster could be lurking undetected, officials said in a regulatory filing Wednesday.

-snip-

In his filing, Cagen said the documents indicating that PG&E put reused pipe in the ground pipe "are approximately dated between 1948 and 1956."

PG&E is unable to "certify that no other reused and/or deficient transmission pipe remains in its service," Cagen wrote.
-snip-
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it pays to know and it could save lives to know, what your city, town, area in regards to pipes is buying and installing. at this point I don't think many of us know.

[mike_c]

1. this is just another reason why corporations should be regulated...

...to within an inch of their lives.

[xchrom]

2. +1

[area51]

5. +1 n/t

[Rex]

6. Not enough +1s in the world to do justice to your post!

Right on!

[DebJ]

3. Here in Pa we've had several explosions. Our borough was

lucky. After 2 years of the gas company coming out and digging up our front yards to just fix what holes they could find in the old pipes that ran through the neighborhood (pipes riddled with holes), they finally came out the next year and replaced the pipes. After the recent earthquake, I was very glad the pipes had finally been replaced.

However, I remain angry at the idiocy of them digging up our yard 3 YEARS IN A ROW, rather than replacing the pipes the first time. As consumers, we all paid them to do 3 times what should have been done once. As homeowners, most of my neighbors had to put out money to re-seed their lawns three times over. I was not fortunate enough to be able to afford to re-seed and re-grade such an extensive portion of my lawn, so I am stuck with what the gas company did to it: big holes in the lawn that I've almost sprained my ankles in numerous times, and enormous weeds with barely any grass at all across a 45 foot by 4 foot section along the front of my house, plus a strip 4 feet across by 30 feet coming up to my home. The weeds have now spread all throughout my once almost weed-free lawn. (I won't use weed killers, our water is killer enough here already).

If they had done it right the first time, we would have been a)safer immediately b)not have had to pay for 3x the work c)not had our lawns destroyed.

But hey, a CORPORATION did this, so this must be the best, most profitable route?????

[ensho]

4. kick

nt