Tag Archives: San Bruno Explosion

After Reforms, CPUC Can Still Have Private Meetings With Utilities

by Liam Dillon, Los Angeles Times

One percenters enjoy fine wine.

For years, state lawmakers have been trying to crack down on private meetings between utility companies and members of the California Public Utilities Commission after revelations that top officials and industry executives had frequent dinner dates, shared talking points and even sketched out details of the multibillion-dollar closure of a Southern California nuclear power plant during a secret rendezvous. Read More ›

PG&E Convicted Of Obstructing Blast Probe, Breaking Safety Laws

by Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle

PG&E pipeline ignites an explosion in San Bruno 9/10/2010.

Prosecutors in the criminal case initially sought a fine of up to $562 million, which they said was twice the amount PG&E saved by illegally cutting safety programs. Read More ›

Prosecutors In PG&E Case Abruptly Reduce Potential Fines

by Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle

PG&E pipeline ignites an explosion in San Bruno 9/10/2010.

Abruptly and without explanation, federal prosecutors slashed potential criminal penalties for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. from $562 million to $6 million Tuesday while a jury was considering whether the company violated safety laws both before and after the lethal 2010 gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno. Read More ›

PG&E Customers Face Triple Whammy In Gas And Electric Bills

by George Avalos, East Bay Times

Before Monday’s hike, total monthly bills for residential customers averaged $145.36. Once all the approved and proposed increases are in effect, monthly power bills could jump to $158.21. Read More ›

PG&E Slammed At Trial As Feds Rest Their Case

by Libby Rainey, San Francisco Chronicle

PG&E pipeline ignites an explosion in San Bruno 9/10/2010.

The prosecution’s final witness testified under cross-examination Thursday that PG&E breached the investigation of the September 2010 pipeline explosion that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes by “pre-interviewing” witnesses in at least two instances. Read More ›

Engineer Calls Years Of PG&E Safety Cuts ‘Near Criminal’

by Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle

PG&E pipeline ignites an explosion in San Bruno 9/10/2010.

The crux of the prosecution is that PG&E, contrary to its stated policy, consistently sacrificed safety for profits. Read More ›

First Audit In 20 Years Finds A Lot Wrong With The Agency That Regulates Your Utilities

by Jeff MCDonald, San Diego Union-Tribune

One percenters enjoy fine wine.

The General Services review is supposed to be conducted every three years, but the audit released Wednesday is the first such examination in more than 20 years. Officials did not explain why General Services failed to conduct legally required audits before. Read More ›

PG&E Monthly Gas Bills Set To Jump About 11 Percent

by George Avalos, East Bay Times

PG&E customers must brace for a double-digit increase in their monthly gas bills after state regulators Thursday approved a program to pay for upgrades to the utility’s aging pipeline system in the wake of the deadly San Bruno explosion. Read More ›

Prosecutor Begins PG&E Trial With Blistering Opening Statement

by Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle

PG&E pipeline ignites an explosion in San Bruno 9/10/2010.

After the September 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes, PG&E “made a deliberate choice to not follow these … safety regulations,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Hallie Hoffman, the lead prosecutor, said in her opening statement in a packed federal courtroom. Read More ›

State Legislators Call For Drastic Overhaul Of California’s Utility Regulator

by Melanie Mason and Jeff McDonald, Los Angeles Times

CPUC shield

Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) said his measure would decentralize the California Public Utilities Commission’s oversight of myriad utilities, including electricity, railroad safety and ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft. … Gatto, chairman of the Assembly’s utilities committee, would give the Legislature two years to divvy up the functions of the commission among other agencies, which Gatto said would result in a more logical assignment of responsibilities. Read More ›

PG&E Can’t Find Original Records For South Bay Gas Lines

by Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle

CPUC shield

The Public Utilities Commission inquiry is focused on PG&E’s distribution pipes, which snake through neighborhoods, delivering gas to homes and businesses. They are smaller than transmission pipelines such as the one that exploded in San Bruno in 2010, killing eight people. That disaster happened when a flawed pipeline weld — which did not show up on PG&E records and had never been tested — ruptured. … Utilities commission staffers are pressing for a large fine against PG&E for the Carmel blast, saying the company did little about the issues raised by its missing De Anza records until after the explosion. Read More ›

PG&E Management Allegedly Ordered Papers Destroyed After Blast

by Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle

PG&E pipeline ignites an explosion in San Bruno 9/10/2010.

A former Pacific Gas and Electric Co. official hired after the San Bruno gas-pipeline explosion to clean up the company’s records said management ordered her to destroy documents, and that she found a telltale preblast analysis of the pipe in the garbage, according to a federal court filing. … PG&E’s alleged “pushback” against [the employee’s] recommendations … “is direct evidence of PG&E violations of record-keeping regulations, and explains how PG&E did not genuinely attempt to address its known record-keeping deficiencies,” prosecutors said. Read More ›

PG&E Lacks Documentation To Prove Pipelines Are Safe, Panel Says

by Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle

PG&E pipeline ignites an explosion in San Bruno 9/10/2010.

“Together, these violations show how PG&E has made it nearly impossible for this commission to determine — more than five years after the San Bruno explosion — whether PG&E’s currently established” pipeline pressure levels are “actually legally justifiable,” [the watchdog office of the state Public Utilities Commission alleged. … office head] Joe Como said Wednesday that the company’s behavior is not excusable given that it lacks federally required records for 1,000 miles out of its more than 5,000-mile system. Read More ›

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