An administrative law judge (ALJ) at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has released a proposed decision outlining the procedures for eliminating current restrictions on the operating pressures of major natural gas transmission pipelines operated by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) in the wake of last year’s San Bruno pipe rupture and explosion. The ALJ also denied a recommendation by PG&E for raising future pipe pressures.

At the direction of the CPUC’s Executive Director Paul Clanon, PG&E has reduced operating pressure on a number of its transmission pipelines, including Line 132, which had the rupture last year.

PG&E had asked the state regulatory commission to allow Clanon to raise pressures in certain parts of its transmission pipeline system. The San Francisco-based combination utility said that by November pressure on some pipelines will need to be raised to assure reliable service to PG&E gas customers.

ALJ Maribeth Bushey has recommended that the CPUC reject the PG&E motion. The utility had argued that it was appropriate for the CPUC to delegate authority to Clanon to raise operating pressures because the utility in virtually all cases would have proof of prior, complete pressure tests in any pipelines in heavily populated areas in which the pressure would be raised.

“The technical issues are, in PG&E’s view, best suited for the [CPUC’s] Consumer Protection and Safety Division, its consultants and the executive director [Clanon], so as not to burden the entire commission with delays and hearings on each,” PG&E told the CPUC.

Bushey said she found PG&E’s proposed process “inadequate” to allow the CPUC to carry out its constitutional and statutory duties. “‘The public interest in PG&E’s natural gas operations is intense.”

While going against PG&E’s specific motion, Bushey’s proposed decision does accommodate the utility’s request for what the ALJ called “an expedited procedure” to obtain authorization to lift pressure limitations for its transmission Line 300B coming out of Topock Compressor Station on the California-Arizona border.

Bushey proposes that PG&E come up with a “comprehensive timeline” for all natural gas transmission pipelines subject to pressure reductions on which the utility expects to seek permission to increase operating pressure. She said the CPUC subsequently will specify the procedure that will be used for these future requests.

The ALJ has proposed that PG&E file its data supporting a lifting of the pressure limits on Line 300B out of Topock by Sept. 12; and a hearing be held Sept. 19 on the request, followed by a proposed decision on Line 300B by Sept. 23 and a final decision by the five-member CPUC on Oct. 6.

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