CONTACT: Kyle DeVine September 24, 1997 CPUC - 556
213-897-4225 (Res.SU-43)

CPUC FINES SOCALGAS FOR VIOLATIONS THAT CAUSED PIPELINE RUPTURE

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today fined Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) $40,000 for violating a Commission general order on natural gas pipeline safety, which led to the gas pipeline rupture on September 27, 1996, in Echo Park, Los Angeles.

The state Public Utilities Code authorizes the Commission to fine regulated utilities for violating Commission orders and rules; fines may be up to $20,000 for each violation. The Commission ordered the maximum fine because property, streets and utility lines were damaged, water was cut off, and a SoCalGas employee was injured with minor cuts, bruises and temporary hearing loss.

SoCalGas is fined $20,000 because it did not completely purge the natural gas in the pipeline before it was filled with air for a pressure test; the gas and air formed a combustible mixture. Another $20,000 is fined because SoCalGas performed welding on the pipeline while it contained the combustible mixture.

SoCalGas was conducting a pressure test on September 27, 1996, on an upgraded six-inch steel distribution line along Glendale Boulevard near Montana Street in Echo Park to assure the pipe would hold 228 psig of pressure. Such tests are required and are safe when safety practices specified in the Commission General Order 112E are followed. In this case, the natural gas should have been purged from the pipeline by a rapid continuous flow of air or using a "slug" of inert gas or some other medium that would keep the natural gas and air separate, and then pressurize the pipe using nitrogen. Also welding is not to be performed on pipes that contain a mixture of gas and air.