Sacramento Bee: PG&E plastic gas pipes worry some Davis residents

Plastic natural gas pipe worries Davis neighborhood after leaks

By Loretta Kalb
Sacramento Bee

Published: Monday, Nov. 7, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 1B

 

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The news wasn't good.

In only 18 months, the residents in one small area of the Stonegate subdivision in West Davis reported a half-dozen gas leaks at their homes.

The leaks were quickly repaired, and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. in recent follow-up testing found and repaired four more.

The discoveries have prompted at least one Davis resident to raise a safety alarm about the Aldyl-A distribution pipe that delivers natural gas directly to homes in the subdivision.

And they reinforce a growing worry about the soundness of older plastic distribution pipe in wide use within the utility industry.

The pipeline safety arm of the federal Department of Transportation has said Aldyl-A plastic pipe made before 1973 is susceptible to becoming brittle and cracking.

PG&E has 44,000 miles of distribution pipe in its service area. Of that, 1,231 miles of Aldyl-A was made before 1973.

More than a decade ago, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended that all Aldyl-A pipe be replaced, according to SNL Energy Gas Utility Week, an industry publication.

The plastic distribution pipe in the Stonegate subdivision where the series of leaks have occurred is newer – post-1973 – PG&E spokeswoman Brittany McKannay said.

PG&E already has a broad "integrity management program" that includes ongoing leak detection and establishing priorities for replacement, she said.

The company is working with residents and is starting a new replacement program, focused on the 1,231 miles of pre-1973 distribution line in its service area, McKannay said.

But Assemblyman Jerry Hill, a San Mateo Democrat, said not enough is being done.

Hill said he will introduce legislation requiring state utility regulators to require action on the NTSB's recommendations tied to pipeline safety.

"That way we can see that the regulators do their job and that the utilities act in a safe manner," Hill said.
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, last month urged U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to propose regulations that will require systematic removal of the plastic distribution gas pipelines manufactured before 1973.

Stonegate homeowner David L. Johnson in Davis also doesn't believe PG&E is moving quickly enough.
"It was only when I did a little investigation of our neighborhood and contacted PG&E that they agreed to meet and said there is a problem," Johnson said.

"I think they're coming from a public relations standpoint," Johnson said. "We're coming from a safety standpoint.

"If there's a cluster of gas leaks, neighborhoods could be forewarned, and they (residents) could be a little more vigilant."

McKannay said the company is doing its part.

It has launched a biweekly program of testing lines and is holding two open houses for residents, on Thursday evening and on the evening of Nov. 16.

Bob Bowen, president of the 950-member homeowners' association at Stonegate, said he believes the utility company is being responsive to residents.

"As far as I can see, it's not an emergency," Bowen said of the incidences of leaks.

Concern over gas leaks has been heightened in recent years, particularly after a 30-inch-wide PG&E transmission line exploded in San Bruno in September 2010, killing eight people, injuring 50 and leveling most of a neighborhood.

More recently, however, Aldyl-A plastic distribution pipeline has been implicated in two explosions: an Aug. 31 blast in Cupertino that destroyed a condominium, and a Sept. 27 rupture and fire at Cirby Way and Riverside Avenue in Roseville.

There were no injuries in the ruptures in Roseville and Cupertino, and PG&E has replaced plastic pipelines at the two locations.