Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) told California regulators Tuesday that it has completed the validation of safe operating pressures on the about one-third of its 6,000-mile natural gas transmission pipeline system that cuts through highly populated urban areas know as “high consequence areas” (HCA).

In a filing to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), PG&E said it has verified the maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP) for 2,088 miles of its transmission pipelines, fulfilling an agreement between the San Francisco-based combination utility and the CPUC’s Consumer Protection and Safety Division. The lines traverse HCA areas in Northern and Central California.

The HCA pipe MAOPs were completed as of the end of January, and PG&E said it immediately began validation work on the rest of its other non-HCA pipeline segments, which total about 4,660 miles. That work is slated to be completed early next year.

“Priority for these miles will be based on pipelines with the highest system operational impact and consistent with pipe modernization decision tree [included in the utility’s pending Pipeline Safety Enhancement Plan],” PG&E told the CPUC.

The completion of all of the HCA pipelines follows PG&E’s initial completion last summer of the validation of operating pressure in the highest priority of the HCA lines, per a recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board and a separate CPUC mandate (see Daily GPI, Sept. 27, 2011). Now the utility said it will concentrate on the more remote segments of its transmission pipeline system.

The head of PG&E’s gas operations, Nick Stavropoulos, executive vice president, said the utility has made “other aggressive moves” to verify and improve the safety of its pipeline system, although it has continued to be criticized by regulators and consumers. Among its accomplishments last year were the hydrostatic testing of more than 160 miles of pipelines and the replacement of some segments and reduction of pressures in others.

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