II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY
We have already taken several actions relating to the San Bruno explosion that are important to note here. We intend to coordinate our efforts in these different areas to ensure the ongoing safety of PG&E's gas pipelines for the public. This proceeding will not limit or inhibit any of the ongoing proceedings described herein.
On September 13, 2010, the Commission's Executive Director ordered PG&E to reduce operating pressure in Line 132 to a level 20% below the pressure at the time of the failure, where it remains today.
On September 23, 2010, we ordered PG&E to "review the classification of its natural gas transmission pipelines and determine if those classifications have changed since the initial designation." (Resolution L-403.)
Resolution L-403 also created the IRP to gather and review facts, and make recommendations to the Commission for the improvement of the safe management of PG&E's natural gas transmission lines. On June 24, 2011, the revised "Report of the Independent Review Panel - San Bruno Explosion" was issued, which made many recommendations to PG&E that have been incorporated into CPSD's Report, as well as recommendations to the CPUC to improve its gas safety regulations and oversight.
On January 3, 2011, the NTSB issued Urgent Safety Recommendations P-10-2 and P-10-3 to PG&E (which we subsequently made mandatory) to determine "the valid maximum allowable operating pressure" for its natural gas transmission lines "in class 3 and class 4 locations that have not had a maximum allowable operating pressure established through prior hydrostatic testing" through a "traceable, verifiable, and complete" search of its "as-built drawings, alignment sheets, and specifications, and all design, construction, inspection, testing, maintenance, and other related records."
The Executive Director, in a letter to PG&E dated January 3, 2011 (the same date as the NTSB's Urgent Safety Recommendations), referred to the NTSB's Safety Recommendations, and ordered PG&E to complete compliance with the recommendations by February 1, 2011. We ratified the directive contained in Executive Director's letter on January 13, 2011, in Resolution L-410 (which also extended the compliance report filing date to March 15, 2011).
On February 24, 2011, the Commission instituted an investigation4 into whether PG&E violated applicable rules or requirements pertaining to safety recordkeeping for its gas service and facilities across its system, including the PG&E San Bruno pipeline.
Also on February 24, 2011, the Commission initiated a statewide rulemaking proceeding5 to consider a "new model of natural gas pipeline safety regulation applicable to all California pipelines."
More recently, on November 10, 2011, the Commission instituted an investigation6 to determine whether PG&E's natural gas transmission pipeline system was safely operated in areas of greater population density or other areas identified as High Consequence Areas (HCAs), which resulted from PG&E's compliance reports issued in response to Resolution L-403.
4 I.11-02-016.
5 R.11-02-019.
6 I.11-11-009.
