"Nevertheless, we operate under the statutes," Lindh said. When it comes to pipeline safety issues, Lindh said, "for the most part I believe the public does deserve public information." Lindh said the commission has been more open since San Bruno, and the agency has posted several documents connected to the disaster on its website, including pre-accident audits of PG&E. After a yearlong investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board blamed the explosion on long-standing neglect at PG&E and a failure by the utilities commission to track what was happening at the company it regulated. New look likelyĬalifornia's secrecy statute has survived under the radar, but is likely to get more attention because of the San Bruno disaster. "The lack of transparency in utility regulation should be deeply alarming to anyone concerned about gas pipeline safety in California," said San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, whose office has labored to obtain documents from the Public Utilities Commission.
They provide "critical historical information (that) can be used to help management make informed decisions about their system," he said. "You just don't destroy" such documents, said Richard Kuprewicz, an independent safety expert who advises federal officials on pipeline safety regulations. The commission later destroyed its copy, officials say.
PG&E and the utilities commission both stamped it confidential under the secrecy law, records show. "They are pretty much immune." Document destroyedĪfter the September 2010 explosion of a PG&E pipeline in San Bruno that killed eight people, state regulators and PG&E officials couldn't locate a report detailing a natural-gas blast in 1963 that resulted in the heart attack death of a San Francisco firefighter and destroyed a home. "There's no transparency whatsoever," said Anthony Moscarelli, who was denied access to documents about two aging gas pipelines that run within feet of his home in Suisun City. The commission's confidentiality powers have frustrated average citizens seeking information about pipelines in their community and even hampered accident-related investigations. Records show that the panel consults with utilities first. But California's law - one of the strictest in the nation - requires a vote of the Public Utilities Commission for an outsider to see unreleased paperwork. In most other states, such documents are routinely available.
Lance Iversen/The Chronicle Show More Show Less Moscarell has had limited success getting information from the PUC but knows both gas transmission lines are dated, one was built in 1948 and the other in 1965. Lance Iversen/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of12 Anthony Moscarell walks on a bike path directly behind his Suisun City home thatês covering two high Pressure Natural Gas lines similar to the San Bruno explosion which killed eight people and destroyed more than 36 homes in the Crestmoor neighborhood Sept. What does release by court order mean.1 of12 Anthony Moscarell walks on a bike path directly behind his Suisun City home thatês covering two high Pressure Natural Gas lines similar to the San Bruno explosion which killed eight people and destroyed more than 36 homes in the Crestmoor neighborhood Sept.