Bruno

A state lawmaker from the San Francisco Peninsula suburbs held a fact-finding subcommittee hearing Monday, prompted by safety and communications concerns between Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) and communities stunned three years ago by the San Bruno transmission pipeline rupture.

On the third anniversary of the Sept. 9, 2010 San Bruno natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion pipeline owner/operator Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) said it has settled substantially all of the legal claims that resulted from the blast.

In a reprise of record keeping errors that surrounded its San Bruno natural gas pipeline failure three years ago, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) found itself once again under fire Thursday for mislabeling high-pressure pipeline segments on the same set of pipes traversing the peninsula south of San Francisco. State regulators immediately set a hearing for Friday in which PG&E again will be on the hot seat.

PG&E Corp. CEO Anthony Earley in a Wall Street interview Wednesday held out the possibility of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy by the company’s giant San Francisco-based combination utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), if a proposed $2.25 billion penalty by state regulatory safety staff is upheld by the five-member California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

The mayor of San Bruno, CA — where a natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion killed eight nearly three years ago — on Wednesday called for the California Attorney General’s Office and state lawmakers to investigate replacement of the state regulatory legal team investigating the event.

Talks for the settlement of outstanding state regulatory cases relating to the 2010 San Bruno natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion have broken down, and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) now expects to litigate the issues at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), said PG&E Corp. CEO Tony Earley.

In a story published May 3, “San Bruno Settlement Talks Break Down, PG&E CEO Says” (see Daily GPI, May 3), the fifth paragraph was incorrect. That paragraph should read: CFO Kent Harvey said PG&E would “continue to expect to need roughly $1-1.2 billion of equity for the year, excluding any fines or penalties beyond the $200 million we’ve already accrued. Of that, we issued about $430 million in 1Q2013.” NGI regrets the error.

Settlement talks have broken down for regulatory cases involving the 2010 San Bruno, CA, natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion, and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) now expects to litigate the issues at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), according to PG&E Corp. CEO Tony Earley.

Under increasing scrutiny since the San Bruno natural gas transmission rupture and explosion two years ago, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) on Thursday announced its use of advanced pipeline leak-detection equipment.