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PG&E Misclassified More Than 300 Miles Of Gas Pipelines

SAN BRUNO (CBS/ AP) -- Officials for a California utility have acknowledged the company wrongly classified hundreds of miles of natural gas transmission lines of the same type that ruptured in a deadly explosion in San Bruno.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. filed a document with state regulators Tuesday saying that it misclassified more than 300 miles of lines, and as a result ran some segments at higher pressure than recommended by federal authorities.

California regulators ordered PG&E to review lines running through densely populated areas after the Sept. 9, 2010, blast, which killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes in a San Bruno neighborhood.

Federal law requires utilities to perform more stringent inspections on lines in highly populated areas. The company said in June that it failed to properly classify 172 miles of pipelines.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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