For the second time this month Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) on Wednesday admitted in a filing with state regulators that it violated federal and state safety testing standards for a part of its distribution pipeline system in San Mateo, CA, within a few miles of the September, 2010 San Bruno transmission pipeline rupture and explosion. PG&E said it discovered the violation on part of an eight-inch diameter distribution feeder line Jan. 26, and took “immediate corrective action” the following day. The combination utility explained its error in a letter to Michelle Cooke, interim director of the California Public Utility Commission‘s (CPUC) Consumer Protection and Safety Division. Under federal Department of Transportation standards and PG&E’s own state-mandated rules, pipe-to-soil measurements for corrosion must be completed every 75 days. The feeder main had last been tested Oct. 5 and should have been retested by the end of 2011. “Due to error and oversight, PG&E did not identify this issue as ‘reportable’ under the CPUC [rules] until after 10 days had elapsed,” the utility told the CPUC.

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