PG&E President Chris Johns met with state Sen. Leland Yee today and discussed moving a pipeline that ruptured and tore through a San Bruno neighborhood on Sept. 9.
The senator said Johns made a promise to move the pipeline, known as line 132, and Yee intends to hold him to that promise despite conflicting reports that Johns only promised to look into moving it.
A PG&E representative was not immediately available to comment on the meeting.
“After many days and hours of discussions with the mayor of San Bruno, residents, and myself, the PG&E president agreed to move the pipeline,” Yee said in a telephone interview today.
Adam Keigwin, Yee’s spokesman who attended the meeting, said, “They met to talk about logistical challenges, not necessarily specific locations to move the line.”
Johns and Yee are looking to move the pipeline possibly to an area without a neighborhood or without endangered species inhabiting it, Keigwin said.
“Surely there must be a better place than through the middle of a residential neighborhood,” Yee said in a statement.
The meeting comes days after the Oct. 19 signing of a bill, ABx6 11, co-authored by Yee and Assemblyman Jerry Hill, that provides financial relief to explosion victims.
The bill allows a $7,000 property tax exemption to homeowners whose houses were obliterated by the explosion, Yee said.
“For one year, you’ll still be able to claim homeowners tax exemption,” Yee said.
Yee authored a similar bill on Sept. 21, SBx6 21, but his name was removed from the bill, which he believes happened because of his refusal to approve the overall state budget.
ABx6 11, signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, has the same wording as the bill that was introduced on Sept. 21, Keigwin said.
Yee said he thinks the moving of the pipeline should happen in a relatively short amount of time.
“I’m not looking at the years or months, I think this will be a short time period,” he said.
He could not confirm when the next meeting with PG&E on moving line 132 would be scheduled.
He added that PG&E officials are going through their “due diligence” to identify other pipelines at risk of damaging densely populated areas.
“It’s not just the pipeline under San Bruno, but there are even pipelines in San Francisco in densely populated areas,” Yee said.
Yee and San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. today at San Bruno City Hall, located at 567 El Camino Real, to discuss PG&E’s alleged commitment to move line 132.
Saul Sugarman, Bay City News
