San Bruno urges safety reforms, big PG&E fine
SACRAMENTO — City of San Bruno officials are supporting a proposed record-high fine against Pacific Gas & Electric Co., but are complaining that the punishment for a fatal pipeline blast in 2010 fails to ensure that the utility would act safely in the future.
Mayor Jim Ruane wants the California Public Utilities Commission to order more safety reforms, including the creation of an independent pipeline safety monitor.
“We need something in place to ensure that it will not be business as usual just because fines were paid,” Ruane said.
Such an oversight agency would help restore the commission’s “culture of safety and help the public regain confidence and trust in a corrupted system,” the mayor said.
Public Utilities Commission President Michael Picker is seeking $1.6 billion from PG&E. The PUC is set to take up the issue April 9.
Reports after the blast said the utility’s negligence contributed to a 2010 natural gas pipeline explosion that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes in a San Bruno neighborhood. The bulk of the penalty would be used to upgrade PG&E’s gas transmission system.
Ruane also is asking that San Bruno be reimbursed by the PUC for more than $2 million in legal fees for participating in the lengthy investigation of the disaster almost five years ago.
He outlined the city’s position on the PG&E penalty at a news conference Tuesday on the steps of the PUC’s headquarters in San Francisco.
The mayor said San Bruno will file a formal legal response Wednesday to Picker’s recommendation released March 13.
The combination of a big fine and heightened oversight “sends the right message that gross negligence, corruption and decisions that put profits over people will no longer be tolerated,” Ruane said in a statement.
PG&E responded in a statement, saying it hopes that a punishment related to the San Bruno explosion would be “reasonable and proportionate” and take into consideration “the company’s investments and actions to promote safety.”
Investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board and a panel of pipeline safety experts revealed that both PG&E and the PUC failed to pay sufficient attention to the condition of the utility’s aging pipeline infrastructure.
The line that cut through San Bruno and other cities south of San Francisco was installed more than half a century ago and had poorquality welds.
As a result, the U.S. Department of Justice has filed criminal charges against the San Francisco company. PG&E is California’s largest PUC-regulated utility.