By George Avalos, gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com
Posted: 07/20/2016 03:59:36 AM PDT
Updated: 07/20/2016 04:00:32 AM PDT
SAN FRANCISCO -- PG&E spiked the pressure beyond the maximum allowed level on numerous pipelines and was aware of defects in several pipes -- including the one that failed in the San Bruno explosion -- according to an FBI agent
who scoured company records after the disaster.
The utility also was unable to provide investigators with required pressure test records on several lines, the agent testified Tuesday in the company's federal criminal trial.
Separately, PG&E provided federal officials investigating the explosion two different versions of its policy on pipeline pressure spikes, documents showed.
The evidence submitted on Tuesday appeared to bolster prosecutors' allegations that PG&E violated pipeline safety rules before the blast and subsequently obstructed the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation.
Prosecutor Hartley West asked FBI Special Agent Sandra Flores what her review of PG&E pipeline records revealed. The records showed a manufacturing defect in a segment of Line 132, the pipeline that ruptured beneath San Bruno, Flores testified. Eight people were killed and dozens of homes were destroyed in the ensuing explosion.
Additionally, Flores testified that she discovered pressure test reports did not exist for numerous pipelines throughout the Bay Area, including segments in or near San Jose, Sunnyvale, Woodside, Newark and Pittsburg. Records also were
missing for a line near Aptos High School in Santa Cruz County, she said.
Flores said her review found 196 pipe segments with "active" manufacturing defects. For pipelines installed before 1970 -- such as the ill-fated Line 132 -- federal rules allow operators to set the maximum pressure at the highest level
that was used in the pipes in the previous five years.
But the same federal rules also require any lines in which the pressure has spiked above allowed levels -- no matter how tiny -- be tested with water at high pressure. Those tests cost much more than the relatively inexpensive inspection
of external corrosion on pipes, a method preferred by PG&E.
After the explosion, PG&E scrambled to comply with an array of data requests for the NTSB probe. The utility initially gave federal and state investigators one version of its pressurization policy that indicated PG&E spiked pressure
on lines by as much as 10 percent over the legal limits.
Later, PG&E attempted to dismiss that letter as a draft document that was never in effect. The characterization of the document as an unapproved draft of a program is a key element in the prosecution's obstruction allegation.
San Francisco-based PG&E faces 13 criminal counts, including 12 alleged violations of pipeline safety rules and one that it obstructed the NTSB investigation. PG&E has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and could be fined $562
million.
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