PG&E Sets Up $100 Million 'Rebuild San Bruno' Fund
SAN BRUNO (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) - Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said it has set aside up to $100 million to help San Bruno residents recover from last week's natural gas pipeline explosion.
The utility said Monday it will help residents with immediate cash payments and pay for costs that aren't covered by insurance.
Residents will get $15,000, $25,000 or $50,000 depending on the damage to their homes.
PG&E says residents won't be asked to waive legal claims to get the money.
The utility also says it will pay the city of San Bruno for the cost of responding to the disaster and repairing damage. The city got $3 million on Monday.
Meantime the beginning of a long recovery continued Monday morning for all the victims of Thursday's explosion and fire in San Bruno, as a neighborhood street reopened, community meetings got under way and hospitalized burn victims continued to rehabilitate.
Eight fire victims remain hospitalized at San Francisco General Hospital and Saint Francis Memorial Hospital.
A man in his 50s who suffered serious burns remains in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital, spokeswoman Rachael Kagan said. Two women who suffered from smoke inhalation are in serious condition, and a fourth woman who suffered burns is in fair condition.
Four burn victims recovering at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital remain in serious but stable condition, hospital spokeswoman Abbie Yant said.
Vehicle access to the impacted neighborhood improved as San Bruno city officials announced that Sneath Lane, which had been closed since Thursday, reopened to the public at about 1 a.m. Monday.
A public meeting to discuss ongoing federal and state investigations of the disaster was scheduled for 8 p.m. Monday at the Church of the Highlands, located at 1900 Monterey Drive in San Bruno.
The meeting will include representatives from the National Transportation Safety Board, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the city of San Bruno and the California Public Utilities Commission.
U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, and state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Mateo/San Francisco, are expected to attend.
A separate meeting for residents who were still not allowed to return home Sunday got under way Monday morning at the San Bruno Senior Center.
Residents of 84 households were not allowed to return to their homes because the structures had been destroyed, extensively damaged or were located within a police perimeter that encompasses the zone closest to the blast site, according to the city.
The California Public Utilities Commission said Sunday that it has ordered PG&E to inspect its natural gas pipeline system across the entire state of California, as a result of Thursday's explosion.
The Governor's office, through acting governor Abel Maldonado, asked the CPUC in a letter sent Saturday, to order PG&E's inspection.
The CPUC said it would appoint an independent expert panel to assist in the investigation.
It's order for PG&E directs the utility to conduct leak surveys, giving priority to higher pressure pipelines and to assess if different segments of natural gas pipes are "classified" properly.
It is asking that PG&E preserves all records and accident reports related to the San Bruno incident and orders PG&E to investigate its own "authorized versus actual spending on pipeline safety and pipeline replacements" before the accident.
All schools in the San Bruno Park School District are open Monday. They were closed on Friday.
Meantime, authorities in are still trying to identify remains they found in the wreckage of a natural gas line explosion.
San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said Sunday the official death toll remains at four. Authorities had said Saturday that seven people had died. But they later said that while some remains had been found, it wasn't immediately clear if they were from victims already accounted for.
Foucrault says they're still trying to confirm whether the remains are human and identify victims. Police have said five people are missing.
At a press conference Sunday morning City Manager Connie Jackson told reporters how displaced residents would return to their homes beginning at noon.
Homes that have been completely destroyed will remain off-limits, while other residents whose houses have sustained moderate damage may only be allowed back to collect some belongings, she said .
Some residents may be allowed to reoccupy their homes, Jackson said.
Federal and state investigators say the section of natural gas pipeline that ruptured and exploded in a deadly fireball had been categorized as high risk because it ran through a highly populated area.
The explosion launched a 28-foot section of pipe about 100 feet from underground out onto the street, the vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday.
Two of the six people believed to be missing after the gas explosion and fire have been located, the city announced Sunday on its website.
Officials did not say how or when the two were accounted for in a telephone interview.
One of the dead worked for the commission reviewing Pacific Gas & Electric's investment plans to upgrade its natural gas lines, including another risky section of the same pipeline within miles of her home, a colleague confirmed.
Longtime California Public Utilities Commission analyst Jacqueline Greig and her 13-year-old daughter Janessa died in the massive blast, which left a crater near their house and laid waste to dozens of 1960s-era homes in the hills overlooking San Francisco Bay.
Jessica Morales, 20, was also killed in the explosion and fire. One other victim hasn't been identified.
Greig spent part of the summer evaluating PG&E's expansion plans and investment proposals to replace out-of-date pipes, co-worker Pearlie Sabino said.
Sabino and Greig were members of a small commission team that advocates for consumer and environmental protections pertaining to natural gas.
"It's just so shocking because she was one of the ones who was most closely involved with this kind of work," said Mike Florio, an attorney with a San Francisco-based utility reform advocacy group who worked with Greig. "Little did we know that pipe was near Jackie's own neighborhood."
Documents obtained by The Associated Press showed that PG&E submitted paperwork to regulators that said a section of the same gas line — about two and half miles from the blast — was within "the top 100 highest risk line sections" in the utility's service territory.
The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration classified the 30-inch diameter transmission line, which ran for about a mile and a half near Greig's home, as a "high consequence area" requiring more stringent inspections called integrity assessments, agency spokeswoman Julia Valentine said.
Nationwide, only about 7 percent of gas lines have that classification, she said.
The state commission gave that section of pipe the same classification and had conducted audits on that stretch, spokeswoman Terrie Prosper said. PG&E also had conducted leak surveys, evaluations and patrols on the gas line, she said.
PG&E did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday and referred questions related to the investigation to federal authorities.
Reams of data and records have been requested from PG&E, National Transportation Safety Board vice chairman Christopher Hart said at a Saturday evening briefing.
The segment of pipe that blew out onto the street was 28 feet long, the explosion sent that piece of pipe about 100 feet and the blast created a crater 167 feet long and 26 feet wide, he said.
An inspection of the severed pipe chunk revealed that it was made of several smaller sections that had been welded together and that a seam ran its length, Hart said.
The presence of the welds did not necessarily indicate the pipe had been repaired, he said. Asked whether a welded pipe was more susceptible to leaks or corrosion, Hart said: "Maybe, and maybe not."
Saturday, Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, who is serving as acting governor while Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger travels in Asia, directed the commission to perform integrity assessments of all pipeline segments in the area.
Maldonado also ordered further inspections and surveys for high consequence areas, including a detailed inspection of three transmission lines that run through San Mateo County.
PG&E workers have almost finished inspecting its three transmission lines that run through San Bruno and further south down the San Francisco peninsula, PG&E vice president Geisha Williams said
"Less than 48 hours ago, we as a community were perhaps settling down to watch the NFL game of the season, sitting down for dinner, or perhaps getting ready for a back-to-school night event," Mayor Jim Ruane said. "And in a split second, a flash, our lives changed forever."
A group of local, state and federal officials toured the damaged area Saturday and described a ghost-town full of remnants of cars melted in driveways and pieces of houses, some left with just the chimney standing.
Besides the 40 homes leveled by the blast, seven were severely damaged, while dozens of other houses suffered less severe damage in the fire that sped across 15 acres.
Some San Bruno residents displaced by Thursday's gas explosion and fire were able to visit their homes beginning at noon Sunday, according to the city's website.
City officials ask that residents to go to parking lot M at Skyline College, located at 3300 College Drive, where they will be asked to show photo identification in order to be escorted to their home. Authorities will ask those without identification a series of questions to verify residency.
Residents without identification can visit remote Department of Motor Vehicles and Social Security outlets set up at Veterans Memorial Recreation Center, located at 251 City Park Way in San Bruno City Park. All California legal documents will be replaced for free, Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado said Friday.
Sonia Salinda's home was destroyed in the fire, but her husband, Ricardo, and 15-year-old son were able to escape. She said she wants to return to what's left of her home to find closure.
"I can't wait to see it, even though it's all destroyed, because I know that's where I am going to start again," she said.
When residents return to their homes on Sunday, PG&E representatives will accompany them to help restore pilot lights and make sure it is safe to turn power back on, Williams said.
"We know our customers are extremely nervous, and who wouldn't be given what's happened here?" she said.
On Saturday, PG&E also started giving out $1,000 gift cards, rental car and hotel vouchers to people displaced by the blast. Williams said the company also was prepared to compensate families with relatives killed or injured in the blast and provide long-term housing assistance to those who lost their homes.
"We will do everything we can to make you whole," she said.
The California Public Utility Commission ordered PG&E to survey all natural gas lines in the state in the wake of the explosion.
As part of the order, the commission says PG&E must run leak surveys on all natural gas lines, with priority given to higher pressure pipelines and to lines in areas of high population density.
The commission also plans to appoint an independent expert panel to help with their investigation.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)
