WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- PG&E said it fully agrees with a federal probe that found faulty records and lax oversight led to last year's deadly gas explosion in San Bruno, Calif.
Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, found Pacific Gas & Electric exploited the system of oversight for its natural gas pipeline in San Bruno.
A Sept. 9, 2010, gas explosion ejected a 28-foot section of pipeline out of the ground, causing a fireball in a San Bruno neighborhood that left eight people dead and 38 homes destroyed.
The NTSB in a yearlong investigation found PG&E didn't know what kind of pipe was beneath San Bruno. The pipeline was installed in 1956 and PG&E had said the pipeline was seamless. The NTSB, however, said no manufacturer had produced that type of pipeline at the time it was installed.
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The NTSB as early as January said defective welds contributed to the deadly gas explosion. The agency said the defective welds would have been clearly visible when the pipeline was installed, but because PG&E didn't have good quality control mechanisms in place, the faulty welds went unnoticed for five decades.
"This tragedy began years ago with PG&E's 1956 installation of a woefully inadequate pipe," said Hersman in a statement. "It was compounded by a litany of failures -- including poor recordkeeping, inadequate inspection programs, and an integrity management program without integrity."
PG&E, in a statement responding to the NTSB findings, said it "fully embraced" the nearly two dozen recommendations the NTSB made to PG&E, natural gas groups and federal pipeline regulators.
