The California Public Utilities Commission yesterday recommended a record $2.25 billion fine be levied against Pacific Gas & Electric for the utility’s role in the massive explosion that killed eight people and destroyed an entire neighborhood in San Bruno, California, two years ago. Ed. Note – If you enjoy the coverage and content you receive
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A shallow natural gas pipeline in Bakersfield, California, exploded and caught fire on Monday, April 22, after a pavement grinder operated by a crew working to repave struck the line, according to recent media reports. Now, regular readers of This Week In Natural Gas Leaks and Explosions know that, as a matter of course, natural
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It seems a bit tone-deaf, at best, to write about natural gas explosions after what happened in Boston, Massachusetts, yesterday, Patriots’ Day, and our thoughts and prayers are with those who were hurt or killed in yesterday’s Boston Marathon bombing, as well as their families and friends, but our motto here is: Mourn the dead,
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Natural gas explosions made national headlines over the past few weeks with high-profile incidents in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Springfield, Massachusetts, but there were many more natural gas leaks and explosions that didn’t garner quite so much attention. That said, you can listen to a compelling recording of the audio feed from the emergency communications channels
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If you’ve ever tried to track data about pipeline safety, you’ve probably come to the conclusion that meaningful information is often elusive, buried deep within a federal website that’s difficult to use and seemingly constructed for insiders. ProPublica, the independent, non-profit news agency that has earned a reputation as one of the nation’s primary sources
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Welcome to a special Hurricane Sandy edition of This Week In Natural Gas Leaks and Explosions. As the storm struck last week, it triggered a natural gas-fueled fire in the borough of Queens in New York City that destroyed more than 100 homes, as well as natural gas-fueled blazes that struck several locations in New
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This Week In Natural Gas Leaks and Explosions is exactly what it sounds like: an aggregation of natural gas leaks and explosions compiled from various media reports from around the country. It is not meant to be comprehensive; a report of that nature would run exceedingly long and try the patience of you, the faithful
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Yesterday marked the second anniversary of the massive natural gas explosion that devastated a neighborhood in the San Francisco Bay Area town of San Bruno, California. The blast killed 8 people, injured 50 others and destroyed 38 homes. Unfortunately, not much has changed in those two years. PG&E, the utility that owns and operates the
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The ongoing wave of natural gas explosions continued to take a deadly toll around the United States since our last column. Here’s a brief tally of the “highlights,” if you will. An explosion at a natural gas drilling rig near Fort Lupton, Colorado, killed one man and injured three others on Wednesday, Aug. 15, around
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Usually, it’s the natural gas explosions that get all the attention, probably because an incident of sudden, massive destruction has a way of grabbing one’s attention. But we cannot ignore the damage done by natural gas leaks; indeed, in the long term, they may well prove more harmful than all the natural gas explosions put
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