Gas pipeline info kept secret for security reasons, hampering disaster response

and more, day by day” about the pipeline, even as he attends funerals for the victims.

It was not the first time a community was caught tragically unaware. Federal regulators and the industry within the last year were admonished by the National Transportation Safety Board after a propane explosion near Carmichael, Mississippi, in 2007. A pipeline ruptured because of a failed weld and sent a huge fireball over homes, killing two people and injuring seven.

Key emergency dispatchers had not known about the pipeline; nor were they trained in how to respond, the NTSB said. Also, the victims and others whose houses were destroyed had been left out of public mailings offering pipeline safety tips.

The NTSB said that if local authorities had known of the presence of the pipe, they could have immediately evacuated the area as the propane leaked, and they could have warned people against doing anything that might ignite the cloud of gas.

The Associated Press asked the federal agency that oversees the U.S. pipeline network — the Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration — for a list or map of the nation’s pipelines, including those deemed “high risk” because they are in highly populated areas. But the agency said that information was not available.

The AP sought the same information from the California Public Utilities Commission and the American Petroleum Institute and did not immediately receive a response.

The AP was able to locate numerous gas line maps from the National Pipeline Mapping System, a Web site created by the U.S. Transportation Department and the industry. The maps, though, do not say which pipelines are high risk, nor do they include the pipelines’ inspection history.

PHMSA spokesman Damon Hill said the agency’s public disclosure program is a “work in progress” and more information will be disclosed in the future. For now, he said, a formal request under the Freedom of Information Act must be submitted before full inspection results are disclosed.

“We are trying to be as transparent as possible without giving out information that could be harmful,” Hill said.

Two weeks ago, Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. released a list of the utility’s 100 riskiest pipeline segments, based on such factors as their design, age, seismic location, and potential for corrosion or damage inflicted by others.

CEO Peter Darbee said the section of pipeline that ruptured did not meet the criteria to appear on the list, but he pledged full transparency from now on about the location of what the company considers to be the most dangerous pipe segments.

“We need to begin the process of restoring trust in PG&E and also in PG&E’s pipelines,” Darbee said. “The best way to accomplish this is to provide information, to be transparent and open in conveying you information.”

(See also the 28 September 2010 testimony of Chris Johns, president of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, before the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security).

Richard Kuprewicz, a Redmond, Washington, pipeline engineer and consultant, said his efforts to examine safety threats posed by lines in many communities are often slowed because inspection and repair information is so hard to obtain. He said he had “40 years’ experience and it’s hard for me to find this stuff out. How about the average homeowner?”

Industry representatives said they have worked to improve their public outreach programs but are reluctant to embrace full disclosure, particularly regarding inspections and repairs.

“In principle we support it, but there’s a concern that just sending out raw data can be subject to misinterpretation,” said John Erickson, vice president of the American Public Gas Association.

For example, he said, a company that aggressively looks for problems and repairs them could end up looking like a poorly run operation compared with a company that does not maintain its system as rigorously.

As the cleanup in San Bruno continues, some lawmakers are pledging to force more transparency on the industry. Representative Jackie Speier, a California Democrat who represents San Bruno and surrounding communities, said she is working on a “right to know” bill that would require utilities to tell residents if a high-pressure gas transmission line runs near or under their property.

“If you had a transmission line in your front yard and if you knew it existed there and you smelled gas, you would be much more certain to call your public utility,” she said.