Hill Enlists Public Support in Getting Pipeline Safety Legislation Passed

With the Crestmoor neighborhood and some of the Sept. 9 fire survivors as his backdrop, state Assemblyman Jerry Hill today urged the state Legislature to pass his pipeline safety bill, which, he said, would make a number of common sense reforms in the pipeline industry throughout the state.

The bill, AB 56—which would require utilities to install automatic shutoff valves on pipelines in highly populated areas, among other things—is scheduled to be voted on in the state Legislature on Friday, the first anniversary of the explosion. Hill, D-San Mateo, said he wanted to stand by the explosion site to make his final push to publicly enlist the help of others in getting the bill passed.

“Later this week, AB 56 will be voted on by the state Senate and on the floor, and later will be presented to the governor,” Hill said this morning. “I need your help in urging the Senate to approve this bill so that the governor can have the opportunity to sign it.”

Hill said the legislation has the support needed to pass, but the state’s utility companies have been fighting tooth and nail over certain requirements the bill had proposed.

In addition to requiring utilities such as PG&E to install remote or automatic shutoff valves, the bill would:

• prohibit gas companies from recovering any fines or penalties from ratepayers;
• require the California Public Utilities Commission to track how utilities spend money allocated for safety projects;
• require gas companies to meet annually with local fire departments to review emergency response plans.

Some of the residents who were directly affected by the fire, which left eight people dead and 38 homes destroyed, spoke in support of the legislation.

Rene Morales, the mother of 20-year-old , who died when the pipeline first ruptured, said there isn’t a day that goes by now when she and her family don’t think about her daughter.

“It’s very important we pass a strong message that pipe safety needs to be governed by someone else other than PG&E and entities that are connect with PG&E,” Morales said, at times crying through her comments.

Resident Bill Magoolaghan, whose family’s home was destroyed in the fire and who is now in the process of rebuilding, followed by talking about how important is Hill’s legislation—at least for the very fact that the pipeline explosion resulted in the loss of several of his neighbors, many of which he knew personally.

“We should all be angry at what the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) has called a complete failure that has culminated in this awful scar that you saw go through our neighborhood,” he said. “It all should result in greater accountability for the organization that was responsible for this tragedy. That is where this legislation comes in.”

To make sure that pipeline legislations goes far enough, Hill said he was also proposing two other bills, one to protect whistleblowers who come forward with problems in the pipeline industry and another to create a safety position within the CPUC to ensure safety is always a top priority with the commission.

Mayor Jim Ruane agreed that the reforms in AB 56 are common sense and offered a challenge to anyone who didn’t see it that way.

“I offer a challenge to any legislator…to visit with me and this neighborhood at this hill, and look out at this devastated neighborhood,” Ruane said, standing on Glenview Drive, where the explosion happened. “I challenge them today to visit us and then tell us why they can’t vote for this legislation.”