State Investigates PG&E Record Keeping Before San Bruno Blast
SAN BRUNO (KCBS) - As federal investigators continue to uncover a cause for last September's San Bruno pipeline blast, state regulators Thursday took the first step in its investigation of PG&E's record keeping.
KCBS' Holly Quan Reports:
After working for months to meet this week's deadline for submitting records on pressure testing on its pipeline system, an administrative law judge is asking PG&E for a laundry list of documents specific to Line 132, the one that runs under the Glenview neighborhood in San Bruno.
The utility should include technical instructions, records of operations, leaks, or electrical problems in addition to memos that refer to what PG&E's document retention policy was over the years.
Photo Gallery: Explosion Rocks San Bruno Neighborhood
"There are some specific legal requirements as to what documents on pipeline testing they have to keep, but there is also just good legal practices to make sure that you keep a record of what kind of pipeline is in the ground," said Marcel Hawiger, an attorney with the ratepayer advocacy group, The Utility Reform Network.
These documents are different from what the California Public Utilities Commission asked for this week.
"What we turned into the commission was 92 percent of our pipelines that dealt with pressure testing and the maximum pressure allowed for each pipeline in our system, but this is different," said PG&E Spokesman Joe Molica. "This goes back 55 years actually into all of the characteristics about this pipeline that was involved in the tragedy in San Bruno."
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