Understanding Government

A whistleblower told federal investigators last month that utility officials likely threw out what may prove crucial records as the National Transportation Safety Board continues its inquest into a deadly explosion of a natural gas pipeline near San Francisco, Jaxon Van Derbeken of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The explosion killed eight people in October and turned 38 suburban homes into charred cinders. (more…)

A series of unrelated errors, some made over half a century ago, aligned in a cascading series of failures that caused the deadly explosion last September of a major natural gas transmission line near San Francisco, reports Eric Nadler of the San Francisco Chronicle.

The story is based on newly-released documents from a National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the catastrophe.

On Sept. 9 a Pacific Gas & Electric Co., natural gas transmission line, some 30 inches in diameter, buried beneath a San Bruno Calif., subdivision failed. The ensuing fireball and inferno killed eight people and consumed 38 homes.  Operators at a San Francisco control room saw pressure spiking in several pipelines (more…)

Pipelines may be central to many modern conveniences, but the explosion earlier this month of a half-century old natural gas pipeline south of San Francisco has awakened public unease that the pipelines may be ticking time bombs that have been out of sight and, until now, out of mind.

Under pressure from state regulators, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., the utilities that locals love to hate, is compiling a list of the 100 riskiest pipeline segments in its service area, which covers about a third of the state. (more…)