September

In the wake of the San Bruno, CA, natural gas pipeline rupture last September, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for the second time in the past nine months has moved to beef up its staffing and oversight of the state’s natural gas transmission pipeline system, which is operated for the most part by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) and Sempra Energy utilities Southern California Gas Co. and San Diego Gas and Electric Co.

A joint criminal investigation has been launched regarding the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) pipeline rupture last September that resulted in an explosion and fire that killed eight people and wreaked havoc in a San Bruno residential neighborhood about 10 miles south of San Francisco, according to a brief disclosure by PG&E in its June 9 8-K filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Wednesday toured the site of last September’s gas transmission pipeline explosion in San Bruno, CA, taking time to criticize Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) and offering additional recommendations for improving communications between pipeline operators and communities.

Bad information in the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) recordkeeping system for the segment of natural gas transmission pipeline that ruptured in San Bruno, CA, last September did not affect the utility’s risk management analysis or assessment methodology for the flawed segment (180) on PG&E Line 132, the utility concluded in a report filed Monday with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

Ahead of a midnight deadline Friday to comment on the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC) draft water quality amendments, those for and against the proposed changes attempted to make their voices heard by delivering thousands of responses to the commissioners.

Given the events in Japan and last September’s fatal natural gas pipeline rupture in California, residents in and around California state’s capital are stirring up eleventh-hour doubts about a proposed underground gas storage facility south of their city. Some Sacramento residents will not accept a final environmental report listing as remote the chance of a leak or accident at the proposed facility.

The final day of National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) hearings Thursday looking into the natural gas transmission pipeline rupture last September in San Bruno, CA, ended with more questions than answers, but with its chairman noting that the record accumulated over the three days in Washington, DC, should not only help pinpoint the cause of the tragedy but also help prevent the same thing from happening again.

Even though water and sewer lines run parallel to the natural gas transmission pipeline that ruptured last September in San Bruno, CA, city officials, including the fire chief, were generally unaware of the gas line before the incident, according to testimony Wednesday in the second of three days of fact-gathering hearings in Washington, DC, by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

More than 45 minutes after all hell broke loose when a 30-inch diameter natural gas transmission pipeline ruptured last September, Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E) pipeline system control center was still unsure about the extent of the problem and whether it involved the utility’s transmission pipeline, according to a 441-page transcript that was one of hundreds of records made public Tuesday at a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) hearing. It began three days of fact-gathering in Washington, DC.