|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Click on map to enlarge and view caption.
When PG&E released a list of its top 100 riskiest gas pipelines on (Sept. 20), one Menlo Park pipe appeared on that list.
“We have been assured that these are not ‘safety issues,’ but are pipelines that need to be watched for upgrades and repair,” Mayor Rich Cline said. “If it felt there were danger – PG&E has said they would replace it now.”
The only Menlo Park segment appearing on the “top 100 list” of riskiest pipelines is an 18-foot line near Dumbarton Avenue and Donahoe Street, along the East Palo Alto border, according to the PG&E report.
The segments ranked at 1 are the riskiest. Coming in at 95, the Menlo Park line earned a place on the list through a combination of factors, including potential for corrosion, third-party damage, or ground movement; and design characteristics such as age.
However, three main gas pipelines run through The Almanac’s circulation area, including Woodside, Atherton and Menlo Park. On a map provided by the National Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS), one – 101 – runs along the length of U.S. 101 in Menlo Park.
Pipelines 109 and 132 border U.S. 280, before curving along Sand Hill Road and into Palo Alto.
Line 132, first installed in 1956, is under investigation for the Sept. 9 explosion in San Bruno, The Palo Alto Weekly reported.
PG&E identified segments of all three pipelines as needing retrofits in a report to the state public utility commission last year. The commission asked the company to release the top 100 list.
The portion of Line 132 that exploded was not included in the top 100 riskiest pipelines.
The PG&E list, with maps, is available here.
The Palo Alto Weekly contributed to this report.
Redwood City attorney sues ‘First Amendment auditors’ after Menlo Park disputeApril 2, 2026 11:31 am
The gas lines
http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_16081179?nclick_check=1
Please make this a priority to keep us informed, as PG & E has not done a good job of giving us any information. This has been a concern of ours, even prior to the San Bruno incident, as the main gas pipeline runs through our front yard. Any additional information or updates that you can get from PG & E and can report back to the neighbors would be greatly appreciated.
Nice. I feel so safe.
They can’t even spell the street names correctly on the map.
“Brittam” in San Carlos?
Why, oh why, do folks think regulating utilities is anti-business, as opposed to pro-life?
We can’t have anymore San Brunos. Demand that PG&E put Customer Safety First!
Last year, PG&E charged its customers $5 million to fix a gas pipeline that ran under San Bruno, but delayed the work citing other priorities. The company then spent $5 million on executive bonuses.Those priorities aren’t good enough, and the California Public Utilities Commission CPUC) needs to rein them in. I just signed a petition asking the CPUC to tell PG&E to make customer safety its top priority, and to force PG&E to pay the costs of the San Bruno tragedy out of profits instead of passing the cost onto ratepayers. Join me in letting the CPUC know we won’t stand for energy companies putting our lives at risk at http://bit.ly/pgepriorities
Thank you!
PG&E has the best attorneys who are very well versed on avoiding culpability. These arre the same people who told the residents of Hinkley, CA that hexavalent chromium posed no health hazard. I think they have been spending too much time at the medical marijuana clinic.
Just love those reporting skills at the Almanac. Once again the readers have to show the way and furnish the “needed” info which was in the San Jose Mercury News five days ago.
And even so the Almanac won’t show the Menlo Park pipeline map in its “news” story.
You want details you’ve got to read the other newspapers.
This from San Jose Mercury News at 2pm today.
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_16125415?nclick_check=1
Here’s a detail for Menlo Park
Map #44 Segment ranking #96
“PG&E is conducting an engineering review of 18 feet of pipe near Dumbarton St and Donahoe St in Menlo Park. Based on this review, PG&E will determine whether any repair or replacement is warranted.”
Now was that hard to find Almanac folks? No it wasn’t.
Those details are in The Almanac story.
Also, the ranking of the Menlo Pipe segment is 95.
Bob, you seem to have a chip on your shoulder. Take it easy there, buddy!
Well, another problem – looks like PG&E doesn’t know exactly what city the Dumbarton/Donohoe area is in. Turns out that intersection and vicinity is in East Palo Alto. According to MPPW and Planning maps it’s not in the City of Menlo Park.
East PA Planning maps show it as part of East Palo Alto. http://www.ci.east-palo-alto.ca.us/planningdiv/pdf/Mar032008_Zoning_Map.pdf
Well at least the area’s served by MP Fire District whether it’s in MP, EPA, or County. Lucky for us.
Can you verify it Almanac?
Your neighbor
Shoulder’s fine. Just a bit exasperated at the Almanac’s hit and miss on news topics, full story and facts. I guess I’ll just have to realize it’s primarily council/commission,shopping and real estate sales rag and get my news elsewhere. Can’t expect one reporter to handle it all, a bit unfair. Oh well, sad but true.
I hear former Almanac reporter Sean Howell went LA to be a script writer – can’t wait for the new series “Mad Menlo.”
Rather than spend billions on a high speed rail system that will lose money and be an albatross around California’s neck for ever, why not spend at least something to deal with the clear and present, huge, well demonstrated danger represented by PG&E’s gas lines? It is time that we start spending the very limited funds we have on things that are truly important and not just things that put dollars into the pockets of construction companies, their lobbyists and politicians
As both the story and the map indicate, the 18-foot segment is near Dumbarton Ave. and Donohoe St., along the East Palo Alto border, but lies within Menlo Park.
Jim:
“..why not spend at least something to deal with the clear and present, huge, well demonstrated danger represented by PG&E’s gas lines?”
PG&E has apparently charged rate payers for the repairs in many cases, but has not performed the maintenance. Instead, the parent company of PG&E just siphons up the cash and then they claim the utility doesn’t have money.
Taxpayers may be the correct source of funds for such repairs, but only if you are willing to “nationalize” the utility.
Can’t imagine many fans of such on this board….
You can go to this link to get street detail which shows individual parcels on the pipeline. Use the street maps format and you can zoom in. It takes a bit of doing and you need to figure out the controls, but it does work.
https://www.npms.phmsa.dot.gov/PublicViewer/composite.jsf?state=CA&county=06081
Anyone can read a map – well almost anyone
From the SJ Mercury News – 09/20/2010 06:58:03 PM and 09/21/2010 01:12:32 AM
Confusion over No. 95
The No. 95 ranked segment — under Dumbarton Avenue and Donohoe Street in East Palo Alto — caused the most confusion Monday when PG&E mistakenly listed the location as being in Menlo Park.
Although Menlo Park officials were notified early Monday morning and plan to meet with the utility today, East Palo Alto Mayor David Woods said no one bothered to tell him or the interim city manager about the segment. PG&E is studying 18 feet of pipe at the intersection for multiple issues, according to company documents, and the segment may need to be repaired or replaced.
The miscommunication raised some “alarming issues,” Woods said, among them that PG&E did not know where its pipes are located and that it and Menlo Park failed to notify him. He said the next step would be to inform residents and demand a meeting with the utility.
“I have no idea why that oversight occurred and they’ve indicated it’s in Menlo Park but I’ve asked the (interim) city manager to look into that and let PG&E know that the segment is in East Palo Alto” Vice Mayor Carlos Romero said.
The segment is under a T-intersection with a church, a house and a duplex, where Patti Aiono lives. A metal PG&E door stands on a corner of the duplex’s lot.
Aiono said PG&E comes frequently, every month or so, to do checks.
“We knew (there was a gas line there), because PG&E always comes there,” she said. “They come and check it out, and open it and do work.”
Is Aiono concerned about having a “Top 100” at-risk pipeline segment under her house?
“Because of the explosion, who is not concerned?” she said.
If the story is wrong, we will, as always, post a correction.
The pipe is on the cusp of Menlo Park and East Palo Alto, therefore lies within both cities, according to PG&E.
Please note both the story and the map, as well as PG&E’s list, state the pipe is near – not at – the intersection of Dumbarton Ave. and Donohoe St.
PG&E meets with Peninsula officials to talk about risky pipelines but skips East Palo Alto
http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_16137802?nclick_check=1
Updated: 09/22/2010 12:06:06 AM PDT
Officials in East Palo Alto, where one of PG&E’s highest-risk natural gas pipeline segments is located, fumed Tuesday at being slighted while representatives of other Peninsula cities met with the utility to discuss potentially problematic sections.
Although several cities received some form of outreach from Pacific Gas & Electric Co. before it released a “Top 100” list of risky segments on Monday, East Palo Alto officials heard through reporters and the grapevine that the utility had mistakenly announced No. 95, at Dumbarton Avenue and Donohoe Street, was in Menlo Park.
And while Menlo Park officials were meeting with PG&E representatives about that line on Tuesday and pointing out it is not in their city, East Palo Alto officials were anxiously trying to set up talks with the utility.
“I’m appalled that they (still) haven’t called me even yet,” said ML Gordon, interim city manager for East Palo Alto, adding that the mayor, council members and city staff had not been contacted either. “We’re the ones that are aggressively trying to set something up.”
He confirmed that the city finally did reach and arrange a meeting today with PG&E.
“We’re asserting ourselves in this process to make sure we know what’s going on and what information they’re sharing with others,” Gordon said.
Asked if he was concerned about the pipeline at the Dumbarton/Donohoe intersection, Gordon said: “I’m absolutely concerned.”
I’m very grateful that The Almanac has published this info & that EPA officials are on top of getting involved. I know exactly where the pipe is. It’s confusing re city boundaries but of course it will effect MP & EPA residents if anything happens there.
In more positive PG&E news, we have had great experiences w/PG&E re gas leaks on stove recently. When stove was replaced, the morons installing it installed it wrong & once again, we had a gas leak. PG&E was here immediately & fixed the install. I’ve always been impressed w/the PG&E employees I have dealt with, from customer service, to field techs to even the meter reader we had.
PG&E problems seem to really lie w/the management. I hope heads roll given what happened in San Bruno.