State Senator Says San Bruno Gas Line Will Be Moved
SAN BRUNO (CBS / AP / BCN) - Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is working with state and local officials on a plan to remove the gas pipeline that ruptured and destroyed a San Bruno neighborhood last month.
State Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, and San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane on Friday said the residents were not comfortable with the pipeline continuing to run beneath their neighborhood.
Eight people were killed and 37 homes were destroyed by the Sept. 9 pipeline blast.
The senator said PG&E President Chris Johns made a promise to move the pipeline, known as line 132, and Yee intends to hold him to that promise.
"After many days and hours of discussions with the mayor of San Bruno, residents, and myself, the PG&E president agreed to move the pipeline," Yee said.
But PG&E spokeswoman Katie Romans said while the San Francisco-based utility does not want to rebuild the pipeline in the neighborhood, the company had not made a firm commitment to moving it until more research is done.
Romans said PG&E was "working with the city to evaluate all other options" for the pipeline.
Adam Keigwin, Yee's spokesman who attended the meeting, said, "They met to talk about logistical challenges, not necessarily specific locations to move the line."
Those involved in Friday's talks were looking to move the pipeline possibly to an area without a neighborhood or without endangered species inhabiting it, Keigwin said.
"Surely there must be a better place than through the middle of a residential neighborhood," Yee maintained.
The meeting came just days after the Oct. 19 signing of a bill, ABx6 11, co-authored by Yee and Assemblyman Jerry Hill, that provides financial relief to explosion victims.
The bill allows a $7,000 property tax exemption to homeowners whose houses were obliterated by the explosion, Yee said.
"For one year, you'll still be able to claim homeowners tax exemption," Yee said.
Yee authored a similar bill on Sept. 21, SBx6 21, but his name was removed from the bill, which he believes happened because of his refusal to approve the overall state budget.
ABx6 11, signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, has the same wording as the bill that was introduced on Sept. 21, Keigwin said.
Yee said he thinks the moving of the pipeline should happen in a relatively short amount of time.
"I'm not looking at the years or months, I think this will be a short time period," he said.
Kegwin could not confirm when the next meeting with PG&E on moving line 132 would be scheduled.
He added that PG&E officials were going through their "due diligence" to identify other pipelines at risk of damaging densely populated areas.
"It's not just the pipeline under San Bruno, but there are even pipelines in San Francisco in densely populated areas," Yee added.
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