Business & Tech

PG&E Says NTSB Notified About Previous Leak As Soon As Record Was Found

"We've acknowledged several times since the tragedy that our operations and recordkeeping practices aren't where they should be," a PG&E spokesman said.

PG&E admitted today that an earlier leak was found several miles from the same pipeline that exploded in the Crestmoor neighborhood but that the discovery was only made recently because of the voluminous amount of records the utility has been searching through as part of the ongoing investigation into the Sept. 9 fire. 

A spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said this afternoon that utility employees
have been poring over millions of historical records and documents to provide to NTSB investigators, and that information about the leak on Line 132 was handed over as soon as it was uncovered on May 20.

"We've acknowledged several times since the tragedy that our operations and recordkeeping practices aren't where they should be," said PG&E spokesman Brian Swanson.

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Swanson said the information about the leak was found in a document uncovered at a local office.

"We know it was a small leak," he said. "It was discovered in 1988 as part of our annual routine gas survey."

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A 12-foot section of Line 132 was cut out and replaced to repair the leak, which only released trace amounts of gas, Swanson said. 

The announcement about the leak was made known earlier today when National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said at a that PG&E had informed federal investigators that repairs were made in
1988 on the pipeline about 9 miles south of the Crestmoor neighborhood. 

Hersman said that the information was provided to the NTSB in the last month and that she did not know why PG&E did not disclose it earlier.

"We certainly would have expected to receive that information sooner," Hersman said. 

Following the announcement, state Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, said he was troubled that it took PG&E so long to inform federal investigators about the previous leak. 

He said he agreed with the NTSB’s recommendations to have emergency responders notified immediately when a possible pipeline rupture occurs, and he urged PG&E to put more resources into tracking down their records. 

“To make up for lost time, PG&E needs to hire as many people as necessary to comb its pipeline records so there’s not another deadly disaster,” Hill said.

—Bay City News

San Bruno Patch Editor Martin Ricard contributed to this story.


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