Feds probe delay in PG&E shutoff

Federal officials investigating this week’s San Francisco pipeline explosion are looking into why Pacific Gas and Electric Co. took more than two hours to shut off the gas as flames raged in the city’s Jordan Park neighborhood.

Jennifer Homendy, a National Transportation Safety Board member, told reporters Friday that the timing of PG&E’s response is one factor in her agency’s evaluation of the explosion, which occurred after contract crews struck a gas pipe while working to install fiber optic cables for Verizon.

PG&E said its crews had to dig by hand through asphalt to reach the affected lines. Homendy said federal safety officials observed “seven manual valves that we verified the PG&E crews were able to access” to shut off the flow of gas.

“Those valves were not paved over,” she said.

Federal investigators took 3 to 4 feet of pipeline that they plan to send to its laboratory in Washington for evaluation, Homendy said.

No one was injured, but five buildings were burned around the site near Geary Boulevard and Parker Avenue.

PG&E said it received its initial report about the explosion at 1:15 p.m. Wednesday and had stopped the flow of gas at 3:36 p.m.

After meeting to coordinate the investigation and inspecting the site, federal officials were preparing Friday afternoon to start developing a timeline of events, Homendy

said.

“One area that we’re still interested in is the length of time that it took to shut off the gas,” she said.

The NTSB decided to investigate the incident on Thursday in part because of the extent of the damage involved, Homendy said.

PG&E spokeswoman Andrea Menniti said the company arrived on scene within 15 minutes of getting the first call and “worked with first responders to make the situation safe.”

“Our isolation plan was focused on balancing minimizing largescale gas outages and safely shutting (down) gas,” Menniti said in an email.

PG&E has been under regulatory scrutiny over allegations it repeatedly falsified internal records about its response to excavators who requested the company locate and mark its underground infrastructure. But the company said the pipelines at the explosion site were properly marked.

PG&E has said it could not remotely or automatically shut off gas because distribution lines like the one that was damaged don’t have those capabilities. The utility has installed 337 automated and remotecontrolled valves on its larger, higher-pressure transmission lines since 2010, when a transmission line exploded in San Bruno, killing eight people and destroying 38 homes.

“Had PG&E turned off a transmission system valve, gas service would have been lost to nearly the entire city of San Francisco,” Menniti said in the email. “It’s important to note, the majority of gas distribution systems, including valves, are not designed for automation.”

PG&E has thousands of valves in San Francisco that must be turned off manually, Menniti said. Six were utilized in this incident, she said.

Still, the utility should have been able to more swiftly shut off the gas, said Mark McDonald of NatGas Consulting.

“Within minutes of arriving, the gas company should be able to access and secure their leak or gas that’s on fire,” McDonald said. “There’s no question about that. (PG&E) did not have that access or ability, and that’s their fault.”

Federal regulations mandate that distribution pipelines have valves that are easily accessible in an emergency and require utilities to check and service them at least once a year.

But gas companies decide the spacing of valves, which can hamper emergency responses, he said.

The California Public Utilities Commission is also looking into the incident. PG&E said it is “working cooperatively with all state and federal agencies” involved.