With New Order, PG&E May Be Required to Test More Pipelines

An administrative law judge today proposed making PG&E and other utilities in the state develop concrete plans to replace or test all natural gas transmission pipelines that haven’t been properly tested.

The decision comes as the California Public Utilities Commission has reprimanded Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for relying on historical gas pressures to determine the maximum operating pressures on its pipelines.

That was the case with Line 132, the pipeline that exploded Sept. 9 in the Crestmoor neighborhood. And PG&E after the fire, claiming that the utility was following the rules because federal and state agencies allowed it because the lines were built before 1961.

If the commissioners approve the proposal, all natural gas transmission pipelines throughout the state would be required to be pressure tested or replaced, including those that have been historically exempt. 

“The Proposed Decision issued today provides guidance on determining MAOP (maximum allowable operating pressure) to PG&E and other pipeline operators in the state and begins the process of evaluating older pipelines that have been previously exempt from pressure testing requirements,” CPUC spokeswoman Terrie Prosper said in a statement.

The scrutiny of operating pressures in gas transmission pipelines stems from several urgent recommendations the National Transportation Safety Board issued in January after it reported that investigators after PG&E said the pipe was "seamless."

The CPUC then ordered the utility to produce the records for its 1,805 miles of gas transmission pipelines in urban areas throughout the state and subsequently ordered PG&E to pressure test 152 miles of pipeline that the utility said had records resembling those of the failed Line 132 segment.

PG&E tested its first section of those pipelines Monday in Mountain View. The judge’s proposed order would supposedly increase the number of miles it would need to test, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

In a filing to the CPUC today (see attached), PG&E also provided an update on the status of its efforts to locate pressure tests records, saying it has found pressure test records for an additional 132 miles of pipeline.

PG&E still has mounds of documents to sift through to complete its records search. The utility has told reporters that it may never find all of the records.