Rupture

Federal regulators last Monday issued their final report and recommendations on the deadly Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion in San Bruno, CA, a year ago. The 140-page document goes into more detail about what led up to the conclusions and recommendations released at the end of August (see NGI, Aug. 5).

Federal regulators Monday issued their final report and recommendations on the deadly Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion in San Bruno, CA, a year ago. The 140-page document goes into more detail about what led up to the conclusions and recommendations released at the end of last month (see Daily GPI, Aug. 31).

Eyes have been opened and ears perked throughout the West, if not most states, since the fatal San Bruno pipeline rupture a year ago and the serious flaws exposed in Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E) natural gas operations. California stakeholders and regulators in other states have taken action or are contemplating new measures aimed at ensuring gas pipeline safety in their states.

On the day before the one-year anniversary of the deadly San Bruno, CA, pipeline rupture and explosion last year, California regulators on Thursday denied Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E) request to have future increases in natural gas pipeline operating pressures done by a regulatory staff executive.

A year after the fatal Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) San Bruno, CA, pipeline rupture, California’s two other state-regulated pipe operators offer a marked contrast when it comes to safety practices. They vary greatly from each other as well as from PG&E.

While there are multiple messages in the exhaustive report approved Tuesday on last year’s San Bruno, CA, natural gas pipeline rupture and explosion by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) (see Daily GPI, Aug. 31), there is one that rang out loudest from the five-member panel — tougher pipeline regulation is needed at both the state and federal levels.

In response to state and federal regulatory mandates tied to the natural gas pipeline rupture last year in San Bruno, CA, Sempra Energy’s California utilities have completed reviews and testing of their system in the southern half of the state, concluding that current operating pressures on pipes in highly populated areas are safe and appropriate, Sempra’s new CEO Debra Reed told financial analysts Tuesday during a second quarter earnings conference call.

A final federal regulatory report including the identification of the cause of the San Bruno, CA, gas pipeline rupture and explosion last year will be completed next month, according to senior officials at PG&E Corp.

Nearly a year after the San Bruno, CA, natural gas pipeline rupture and explosion, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) and its parent company face a negative credit outlook from Fitch Ratings, which nevertheless Tuesday affirmed the ratings of the utility and parent PG&E Corp.