Suisun City Residents Ask PG&E For Pipeline Records

A group of neighbors in Suisun City has banded together in hopes of forcing PG&E to open up its records about pipelines in their neighborhood.

Residents said they are worried about a new development plan that could affect two major PG&E transmission pipelines, one 32-inches and the other 16-inches long.

Residents said they have no documentation on whether the pipeline has been inspected and if it's up to safety standards. They said they fear a repeat of the San Bruno explosion.

Anthony Moscarelli of Healthy Community Research of Suisun City said the blast radius of the pipeline would be 575-feet, almost three football fields long. If the pipeline blew up it would take out all the homes 575-feet back.

The group said the pipeline runs along an area of Suisun City where the city has plans to build a new Walmart next to those lines.

The group said they're concerned the new traffic will vibrate and possibly weaken the gas lines.

“The issue is they're going to have traffic coming down with big-rig trucks that weigh 40-tons,” Moscarelli said.

They said they are also concerned over the fact that PG&E came clean last week that it didn't have inspection records for 172-miles of pipeline in the Bay Area.

The group said it fears the pipeline hasn’t been inspected or maintained properly.

PG&E said it recently inspected one of the two pipelines and the second will be inspected next year.

"The inline inspection that occurred in April 2011 are currently being assessed and those inspection results typically take several months to complete," said PG&E spokesperson Brittany Chord.

The neighbors want that data but, but were denied by PG&E based on national security issues.

PG&E said the inspection data was not public information.

"This data is information that we share with first responders and government officials," Chord said.

Moscarelli said without the data his group can't be sure the lines in the neighborhood are safe.

"Hopefully, we can get this study done and say there isn't a problem," Moscarelli said. "Something has fallen through the cracks."

He said one of the pipelines is similar in size to the one that exploded in San Bruno, but under more pressure.