2. National Transportation Safety Board and United States Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
Two federal agencies have critical roles in our investigation and rulemaking. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent agency responsible for investigating the explosion, determining the probable cause, and making recommendations to prevent similar accidents from occurring. Although its investigation is not yet complete, the NTSB has issued an urgent safety recommendation that PG&E "aggressively and diligently" search its records for "traceable, verifiable, and complete" pipeline documents for all pipelines that have not been subject to hydrostatic testing and are located in populated areas.1 The NTSB is also holding a fact-finding hearing as part of the investigative process. The NTSB decided to hold the hearing when it determined that the San Bruno explosion had exposed issues that required further attention with implications for the pipeline infrastructure throughout the country. The hearing is scheduled for March 1 - 3, 2011, at NTSB headquarters in Washington, D.C., and will be webcast over www.ntsb.gov.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is part of the United States Department of Transportation and its Office of Pipeline Safety administers the Department's national regulatory program to assure the safe transportation of natural gas, petroleum, and other hazardous materials by pipeline. The Office of Pipeline Safety develops regulations and other approaches to risk management to assure safety in design, construction, testing, operation, maintenance, and emergency response of pipeline facilities.2 PHMSA is responsible for the federal rules which are part of the Commission's General Order (GO) 112-E.
Each of these federal agencies may issue reports and make recommendations, which may require further action by this Commission. We will fully cooperate with these agencies and, if appropriate, we may hold joint hearings as part of this rulemaking.
1 NTSB Press Release, January 3, 2011, http://www.ntsb.gov/Pressrel/2011/110103.html
2 See generally, http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/portal/site/PHMSA.
