PG&E, the California utility that operates the pipeline that exploded in San Bruno last week, killing at least seven people, failed to perform a scheduled replacement on a near-by pipe, according to a consumer advocacy group. The utility also did not install automatic shut-off valves, which might have significantly reduced the damage and death toll from the explosion.
According to The Utility Reform Network (TURN), in 2007 the company was paid to replace an old section of pipe just north of the ruptured section that caused the explosion. The entire section had been considered “high risk” by the company for many years because of the population density surrounding it and its age—over 60 years old.
The 2007 plan was funded by a customer rate increase approved by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). The project was scheduled to be completed by 2009. Yet despite the high risk, PG&E did not complete the replacement in 2009. Instead, it demanded and received another $5 million, funded by another consumer rate increase. It then put off the pipe’s replacement until 2013.
The $5 million PG&E garnered by charging cash-strapped customers for critical repair work to the San Bruno gas line that was never done is a drop in the bucket compared to the tens of millions the company spent to back Proposition 16—an effort to prevent cities and counties from managing their own gas and electricity networks—earlier this year.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/sep2010/cali-s17.shtml
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