Suisun pipeline study authors call on PUC, PG&E for more info
SUISUN CITY — A city resident is asking the state’s Public Utilities Commission and Pacific Gas & Electric Company to come across with information on the natural gas pipelines running through Suisun City that will show whether those lines are safe.
Anthony Moscarelli, with the support of the California Healthy Communities Network, is expanding on a study of the two PG&E natural gas pipelines and aviation fuel pipeline that supplies Travis Air Force Base. He went to the press Wednesday trying to break loose a refusal by the PUC to provide information about recent pipeline inspections, classifications and what pressures the pipelines operate under.
So far, a PG&E spokesman’s reply to the press conference was that the information that Moscarelli and the Healthy Communities Network wants is only available to public safety and government officials for security reasons.
The study was started four years ago and was initially released in late March with the conclusion that the two natural gas pipelines that run through Suisun City along Highway 12 are relatively safe despite their age, but need to be upgraded and be more frequently monitored.
Moscarelli, a Suisun City homeowner who lives only a fence line away from the pipes, added the caveat then that he needed more specific information from PG&E from pipeline inspections that were carried out June 10 along the length of the pipeline through Suisun City to Cordelia.
When Moscarelli tried to get this and other information in mid-June from the California Public Utilities Commission, he was told that such information could not be released due to national security.
Moscarelli said he was further spurred to hold the Wednesday news conference by a July 1 admission by PG&E reported in the San Francisco Chronicle that it had misclassified 172 miles of pipeline, raising questions on how well the utility company monitors its system and development that is built around it.
He said he is concerned that the reason for withholding the information doesn’t have to do with national security, but that the pipelines may not be up to federal code or that the needed records don’t exist.
“We need to have independent people to look at these records to see if they are complete,” Moscarelli said of the requested information.
The proposed Walmart store is slated to be built on land across Peterson Road from the pipelines and will bring in heavy delivery truck traffic on the road the pipelines are under, which adds to the concerns expressed by Moscarelli.
The Healthy Communities Network wants to make sure the lines have been well-tested and any pressures they are put under are low enough, Moscarelli said.
“If it is safe, we will say it’s safe,” he said.
Reach Ian Thompson at 427-6976 or ithompson@dailyrepublic.net.
Short URL: http://www.dailyrepublic.com/?p=64299
Posted by Ian Thompson
on Jul 6 2011.
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Good luck to Mr. Moscarelli. PG&E is getting a rep about its record keeping and its willingness to provide records. I hope they do the right thing, and provide the information Mr. Moscarelli requests–as well as that already owed by them on the records they were already to provide.
I’m wondering if it is bad record keeping (did they make the records to begin with, did they store them properly, etc. ) or deliberate foot-dragging.
http://www.mantecabulletin.com/section/38/article/25153/
the link should lead to an article in the Manteca Bulletin about PG&E being above the law. Interesting and disappointing.
All I can say is “Thank goodness” for this investigation and all the countless, thankless hours Anthony has put into this. I live by those pipe-lines too and I just want to be safe. Please PG&E- cooperate- put our minds at ease- you have nothing to loose and everything to gain.
Keep the good job Anthony.
Thanks for taking the time to do what others don’t and should.
What does this do to property values? There are more of us who are finding out that our homes are next to PG&E gas pipes. We are not we told how old or how safe these bombs are. PG&E does not care about people, all they want is money! How do we get this info. National Sercurity B.S. How about family security? The city of Fairfield knows how old these pipes are. How about some info Fairfield?