Calif. may lower fines for utility in fatal blast

A state administrative judge is proposing to fine a utility under fire for the deadly San Bruno pipeline explosion only $3 million, rather than going with a prior plan to charge Pacific Gas & Electric Co. $1 million each day for shoddy record-keeping.

A California Public Utilities Commission judge issued the proposal Wednesday, but it still needs approval by the commission before taking effect.

After a settlement was reached last year, the judge’s proposal would significantly lower the company’s penalties from the original proposal made by the commission’s executive director.

That plan would have fined PG&E $1 million a day for failing to hand over key safety records about its transmission lines, including for sections of the gas line that ruptured in San Bruno.

SOURCE: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/02/22/state/n170015S44.DTL#ixzz1nExMbh6d

Corrosion cited in Alabama pipeline explosion

A corroded pipe has been deemed the culprit of a massive natural gasoline explosion in Sweet Water, AL last December. A Transco natural gas pipeline ruptured at approximately 3:07 p.m. Dec. 3 with an explosion that could be heard for more than 30 miles while shooting flames nearly 100 feet in the air for over [...]

Lights out for the Blatnik Bridge?

The iconic lights that outline the Blatnik Bridge linking Duluth and Superior will go dark and come down later this year during maintenance on the bridge. Whether they return when the work is complete in 2013 is up in the air. Corroded, in the way and “failing at an alarming rate,” the more than 200 [...]

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$67 million requested for pipeline safety

Federal pipeline safety programs would get an extra $67 million and nearly 120 new employees under a proposal President Obama announced Monday that brought cheers from safety advocates pushing to address accidents and growing safety concerns. The request, part of the president’s $3.8 trillion plan, would almost double the number of enforcement agents nationwide, according [...]

City of San Francisco sues to force feds to improve pipeline safety

The city of San Francisco took the unusual step Tuesday of asking a judge to force federal natural-gas safety regulators to step up efforts in California, saying the government “abjectly failed” to enforce pipeline laws before and after the 2010 explosion that devastated a San Bruno neighborhood. At issue in City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s lawsuit, filed in [...]

700 Southern Californian homes supported by jacks are corroding

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EPA: US needs $300B in sewer, water work

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Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission plans to expand oversight rules on natural gas pipelines

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Allentown, UGI differ over whether pace of gas pipeline replacement is enough

The gas pipe that leaked and is believed to have caused a massive gas explosion in Allentown nearly one year ago was first installed in 1928. Eighty-three years old at the time, the pipe was slightly below the average age of the cast-iron pipelines running through the city. Out of about 72 miles of cast-iron pipe in Allentown, [...]