California Officials Probing Pipeline Blast Find PG&E Records Written In Erasable Ink

[hatrack]

California regulators questioned Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s gas record-keeping practices as early as 2007, when they discovered that vital documents were apparently being written in erasable ink, an internal company document shows. The discovery prompted an unusual bulletin that PG&E distributed to employees warning against the practice and ordering that records be written in non-erasable ink.

The bulletin was among nearly 200 documents that PG&E turned over this week as part of the state Public Utilities Commission's probe into the company's record-keeping practices in the wake of the San Bruno disaster. "Effective immediately, all handwritten gas and electric (maintenance and operation) records are required to be completed in non-erasable ink," stated the Dec. 31, 2007, bulletin.

It said PG&E was issuing the order "in response to deficiencies discovered during recent audits of gas maintenance practices." It said the company had promised the utilities commission that all records "will be completed in permanent ink to ensure (their) integrity." The idea, PG&E said, was to guarantee that its records "represent the work of the party actually performing the required task."

PG&E has told regulators that its record-keeping problems, including documents incorrectly describing the San Bruno pipeline's characteristics, were irrelevant to the Sept. 9 explosion, which killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes.

EDIT

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/29/BA1J1J9AA5.DTL&type=newsbayarea

[LiberalEsto]

1. OMG these PG&E people are major bastards

I hope that any tax refund check they might receive is ALSO written in disappearing ink.

[Sonoman]

2. I thought this would be from The Onion.

PG&E probably got the ink, cheap, from Enron.

Sonoman