PUC President Concerned About PG&E After San Bruno Blast
SAN BRUNO (KCBS) -- California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey said he has some concerns about potential problems at Pacific Gas & Electric following last week's explosion and fire in San Bruno.
He said a list of the 100 most critical pipeline repairs will be released to the public by Monday.
"My biggest concern is not necessarily that there will be another pipeline explosion. That is highly unlikely, although anything is possible as we just saw," Peevey said. "But is there a more systemic problem of perhaps inadequate management control within the company."
For example, a management consideration would have been the ability to dispatch someone to turn off manual valves to the northern and southern ends of the explosion at the time.
Peevey said in times of crisis, oversight can be a balancing act.
"Some groups and organizations that now say PG&E is not doing enough or didn't spend enough money," he said. "Those same groups come before the Public Utilities Commission and say, cut their budget and don't let them spend the money."
Peevey said PG&E spent more money on safety than what the PUC approved. But he said the company didn't spend it on the things they said they would spend it on because priorities changed.
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