PG&E: Quarter Of High-Risk Gas Lines Not Assessed
SAN BRUNO (AP) -- The company whose ruptured gas pipe set off an inferno that killed four and torched a San Bruno neighborhood has yet to fully inspect all its high-risk gas lines coursing through the state's urban regions.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has not assessed baseline safety and corrosion conditions on a quarter of the 1,021 miles of pipeline classified as needing stricter inspections, spokeswoman Katie Romans said Thursday.
PG&E would not say where those high-pressure lines were located, citing security concerns.
Investigators are still trying to determine why the San Bruno pipeline exploded last week, igniting a gigantic fireball so intense it cracked fire engines' windshields and broke a water main, leaving all hydrants in the area dry. At least four people died and nearly 40 homes in the bedroom community were destroyed in the blaze.
In the wake of the tragedy, California regulators say they and federal authorities may ask PG&E to hasten inspections so more is known about potential safety threats.
"They need to go out and see what they've got," said Julie Halligan, deputy director for consumer protection and safety at the California Public Utilities Commission. "Whether or not they speed up is one of the ideas."
Regulations put in place after several gas pipeline accidents a decade ago require oil and gas companies to inspect the integrity of pipes in densely populated areas.
Those inspections, which are conducted by the companies themselves, began in 2002 and are supposed to be completed by 2012.
PG&E is on track to finish assessing all its high-pressure transmission lines by then, Romans said, but that still leaves 270 miles across California that haven't been fully inspected.
Rep. John Garamendi, a California Democrat, said that left too many unknowns.
"It's inadequate, and it's inappropriate," Garamendi said. "The question is where is the next San Bruno going to be. It's not just California, it's not just PG&E, this is a nationwide problem."
The Obama administration is seeking to tighten oversight U.S pipelines and more than double penalties for some safety violations. Legislation sent to Congress on Wednesday would pay for an additional 40 inspectors and safety regulators over the next four years.
Under the current system, PG&E surveys and patrols its own lines for leaks and potential safety threats, and classifies which pipelines are listed as "high consequence areas," which therefore merit the full inspections, called baseline assesments.
Four leaks and five failures were found on the 750 miles of transmission pipeline inspected thus far, Romans said. Failure can include things like nicks in the pipeline wall, she said.
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