Grayson County Airport

PG&E Pipeline Maps Reveal Berkeley is the East Bay's Most Endangered City

Natural gas pipelines — like the one that erupted in a deadly 2010 blast that killed eight people in San Bruno — run along the margins of West Berkeley, parallel to the Eastshore Freeway. This has been known for some time but earlier this week, PG&E quietly mailed letters to a number of Berkeley businesses and residents warning that they may be located “within 2,000 feet of a natural gas transmission pipeline.” A Planet investigation reveals that several PG&E gas lines lie buried beneath 31 city blocks, with one major pipeline running right through the downtown — alongside the Police Department, City Hall, the Main Post Office, BART and the Shattuck Hotel. 

In a self-confessed attempt “to earn back the trust and confidence of our customers,” PG&E’s new president, Chris Johns, recently mailed an advisory letter to occupants of “homes and businesses located within about 2,000 feet of a natural gas transmission pipeline.” As a business recipient of PG&E’s effort to “enhance public safety awareness,” I received one of these alerts at my downtown Berkeley office. My initial response to PG&E’s attempt at “outreach,” was frustration as the critical information about the location of the nearest gas pipelines proved difficult to locate. After some dogged digging, however, my reaction turned to from frustration to utter shock. 

The phrase, “located within about 2,000 feet” of a pipeline, was clearly designed to grab attention. It appeared at the top right of the letter in large, bold, blue type. 

PG&E’s letter offered the following invitation: “To learn more about the location of our gas transmission pipelines, view our comprehensive online maps at www.pge.com/pipelinelocations.” 

Despite the promise to provide “information we can all use to help prevent accidents,” this link does not provide any pipeline locations. It simply leads to a 36-page letter on “ Long Range Gas Transmission Pipeline Planning Input Top 100 Segments – 2007-2009” sent from PG&E VP Brian K. Cherryto the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and dated March 9, 2011. 

PG&E’s one-page alert also recommends a second Website — the National Pipeline Mapping System (www.npms.phmsa.dot.gov/PublicViewer). PG&E calls the NPMS a “useful tool” for people seeking information about natural gas transmission lines “county by county.” But a visit to the Website quickly reveals the NPMS is vastly over-rated. These maps reveal only the largest pipelines. Furthermore, the depiction of the larger lines turns out to be inconsistent with other maps of pipelines running through the East Bay. (There is, for instance, a pipeline that runs from the vicinity of Brookfield Village to service the Oakland International Airport. This line does not appear on the Federal map.