California regulators on Thursday opened a third penalty proceeding at Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), which alleges the utility violated state law and various federal regulations. The allegations came as the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) Consumer Protection and Safety Division (CPSD) completed its investigation of the San Bruno, CA pipeline tragedy.

The case announced Thursday,”means a formal enforcement action, leading to possible penalties and other remedies, has now been launched by the CPUC,” a spokeswoman said. The commission will announce soon a prehearing conference before a CPUC administrative law judge, who will establish a case schedule for upcoming evidentiary hearings.

Last month CPUC assessed a $38 million penalty against PG&E for a 2008 distribution pipeline incident that killed a resident in Rancho Cordova, CA, and two other penalty cases are already ongoing (see Daily GPI, Dec. 2, 2011). The new proceeding “will not be solely limited to the events that took place on Sept. 9, 2010 in San Bruno, but will include all past operations, practices, and other events or courses of conduct that could have led to or contributed to the pipeline rupture,” the CPUC spokeswoman said.

CPUC President Michael Peevey said three different investigations — two by the state and one federal — “have presented us with sufficient information and good cause to move to this new phase and determine whether safety violations have occurred with respect to PG&E before, during and after the San Bruno pipeline rupture.” State regulators are “giving PG&E its day in court, and if we determine PG&E has violated the law, we are prepared to impose very significant fines.”

PG&E issued two statements — one by utility president Chris Johns and a second by special consultant Jim Hall, a former head of the National Transportation Safety Board. Johns said the utility is taking the latest findings “very seriously and will cooperate fully.” Hall, who agreed last October to do an assessment of PG&E’s safety programs, said the combination utility “still has a lot of work to do, but I believe it is on the right path.”

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