The Official Student-Run Newspaper of California High School

The Californian

The Official Student-Run Newspaper of California High School

The Californian

The Official Student-Run Newspaper of California High School

The Californian

Concerns about PG&E raised after San Bruno

STAFF EDITORIAL

Imagine having to suddenly flee your home and losing everything you have into a huge ball of fire.

This is what many San Bruno residents had to endure on Sept. 9 when a rusty PG&E gas line ruptured from too much pressure and caused an explosion that killed seven people, injured more than 50 others and annihilated over 40 homes.

The Obama administration proposed legislation to tighten oversight on gas pipelines by increasing the fine for serious deaths or injuries from $1 million to $2.5 million, and by paying for 40 more regulators and inspectors over the next four years.

Although the risk of an explosion happening in San Ramon is low, PG&E’s negligence has been a consistent issue, making the proposed legislation necessary. To try and calm public fears, PG&E released a list of the Top 100 riskiest pipelines. San Ramon and nearby areas are not on this list.

Gas leaks have not been a serious issue for San Ramon, which has experienced only two. On Sept. 2 a gas leak forced students to evacuate Golden View Elementary School briefly, and on Aug. 12, 2009, there was a gas leak on a gas line at Marie Callender’s.

But PG&E’s negligence of pipeline maintenance is disconcerting.

PG&E knew the gas lines in San Bruno were a high risk area and needed repair. The company made plans to replace them, but it’s been a year and they haven’t made any repairs yet.

For weeks leading up to the fire, San Bruno residents claimed to have been filing complaints to PG&E, raising questions about how well safety procedures were followed.

One San Bruno resident is even suing PG&E for spending their money on bonuses for executives rather than on repairing the pipelines.

PG&E reportedly operated the pipeline at a higher pressure than what they told the public earlier, raising more questions about their safety protocol.

The tighter legislation is necessary to decrease PG&E’s negligence and to further calm the public that another San Bruno is highly unlikely.

Opinions expressed in The Californian are those of the respective authors. Unsigned editorials reflect the majority view of the staff.

The Californian encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and should not exceed 150 words.

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  • K

    Katie MeiselNov 7, 2010 at 7:56 pm

    It would be really nice if people actually got the facts about articles like these. My dad works for PG&E and almost everything the news told was inaccurate. The people that reported smelling gas in the previous weeks called PG&E to check out the pipe. The news and people in the neighborhoods have said that the workers came, but did nothing about it. In reality, they looked at the pipe and investigated around it and found nothing wrong. People need to learn that even the news doesn’t give you accurate information and says things that may not blatently lie about something, but exaggerate information to make certain companies sound worse. It’s sad that the last place we can trusted for accuracy has just fallen into the category with all the other tabloids.

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