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California’s senators urged a federal agency Monday to immediately order inspections of interstate natural gas pipelines — like the one that ruptured Thursday night in San Bruno — with a priority on those near residential areas.
Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein pointed out that the California Public Utilities Commission’s order for PG&E to begin inspecting its share of the nearly 12,000 miles of state-regulated intrastate pipelines is not enough.
The senators are demanding thorough inspections of the 1,508 miles of interstate natural gas transmission pipelines that are regulated by the federal government, according to a joint statement issued by Boxer and Feinstein.
To make sure the pipelines are being properly maintained, the two senators asked the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to produce a list of cities and counties in the state where pipes are located, dates of installation and upgrades of pipelines, and a schedule of past and future inspections.
Boxer, who toured the damaged areas in San Bruno over the weekend, also penned a letter to utilities commission President Michael Peevey expressing her support for its decision to order PG&E to immediately inspect its natural gas pipelines, beginning with those closest to residential areas.
“Californians must feel confident that their communities are safe and that the regulatory agencies responsible for maintaining natural gas pipelines are doing everything possible to guarantee their safety,” Boxer wrote in the letter.
“It is critical that the public’s confidence is restored and that utilities are held accountable for the safety of their pipelines,” Boxer wrote.
“Boxer, Feinstein call on federal agency to inspect California pipelines”
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I’m calling on THEM to stop their quest to increase the size of government and to stop spending borrowed money. These women are complicit in burying our economy. See you at the polls.
These guys spew more bile than a BP rig spews crude. It is becoming tiresome, and I predict that by November they will send the electorate screaming to the polls — just to send them back to live under their bridges.
If their mascot is not the troll, then howsabout the carp?
@George, @cardinal,
I understand that you identify more with laissez-faire capitalism, and object to regulation of energy companies that pass highly explosive pipelines through neighborhoods.
So the deaths of residents, oil rig workers, and property destruction is OK by you then?
Dear Dolores,
Journalism, please.
Provide references to locations of high pressure natural gas lines in our region, how State and Federal governments manage the safety of those pipelines, and what current Federal investigations are being conducted in the greater bay area. Gas lines including high-pressure fuel lines along the Iron Horse Trail should be the subject of this exchange as important information for neighbors’ safety considerations.
Are there any knowledgeable experts among your readers that would care to comment?
halbailey@yahoo.com
@Farmer Dave:
Actually, I was intending to snark-up ol’ George and his teabagger ilk. They are way too shrill and chronically apoplectic for my taste.
And I wonder if they got a proper building permit for that edifice they built on the freeway. Now, there’s a project for a cub reporter!
As to your post, I agree — and PGE’s attempt to pass through its disaster costs to the ratepayers strikes me as exceptionally poor policy. It won’t encourage them to build and maintain their pipelines safely — indeed, if anything, quite the opposite.
Build ’em extra-safe and pass cost that along to the ratepayers, but the consequences of your failures belong to you and your shareholders — the very folks who are in the best position to prevent them.
Boxer always a day late. They should have thought about our Safety prior to explosion! We will remember. Vote them out in Nov.
@billr: would you please be kind enough to write the good Senator a letter, and tell her where our Next disaster will occur? So she won’t be “a day late?” Will it be a meteor, a quake or a plague, or something else she’s clearly just as responsible for preventing?
I’m sure she’ll be grateful, as will I, cuz you’ll have made us all safer. Thanks!