PG&E search for records after San Bruno disaster
PG&E launches massive record search after San Bruno disaster
Confirming worries about the disorganized state of its pipeline records, PG&E on Tuesday said it has launched a massive effort to find documents that can prove it has set safe gas-pressure limits for its pipes after the Sept. 9 San Bruno gas-line explosion that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes.
Acting under orders from the California Public Utilities Commission, PG&E reported that it has nearly 300 people poring over the records 24 hours a day, seven days a week, has leased space for the search effort and has initially identified 1.25 million documents it is scanning into an electronic database. But the company’s initial report on the document search didn’t say how many miles of pipes may lack adequate paperwork.
Silicon Valley Mercury News, February 2, 2011
PG&E’s records search takes it around the state
…The records search – which the utility expects to take six more weeks – was ordered by state officials at the urging of federal transportation safety investigators probing the Sept. 9 pipeline blast that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes….Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, said last week that PG&E President Chris Johns had told her the utility had been unable to locate supporting documentation for 30 percent of the 1,800 miles of transmission pipeline under review.