PG&E launches huge paper chase for pipeline data (Tens of thousands of boxes) - pics

[Kadie]

Tens of thousands of boxes with PG&E paperwork are being moved to the Cow Palace so workers can sift through the documents.
Photo: Susana Bates / Special to The Chronicle


Pallets with PG&E records, some dating to the 1920s, sit outside the Cow Palace in Daly City. PG&E hopes to validate pipeline data before a March 15 deadline.
Photo: Susana Bates / Special to The Chronicle



PG&E launches huge paper chase for pipeline data
Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, March 5, 2011

Facing a deadline that could mean the difference between doing business as usual or cutting pressure on hundreds of miles of natural-gas pipeline, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has recruited employees to the Cow Palace grounds for a round-the-clock search through tens of thousands of boxes of paperwork.

Their job: Find proof in documents, some of them crumbling and dating back decades, that PG&E's gas lines are as safe as the utility says they are.

For the past couple of days, forklifts have been carting pallets loaded with 30 boxes each into three warehouses outside the 70-year-old arena in Daly City. Friday afternoon, there were still more than 100 pallets stacked outside the warehouses waiting to go in.

"There are 100,000 boxes in there, and you can't believe the papers spread everywhere," one PG&E employee said as she took a break. "There are records in there going back to the 1920s.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/04/MNDE1I4GL5.DTL#ixzz1FkOolRf7

[hedgehog]

1. Good! I thought this was a document dump in response to a subpoena.

[HopeHoops]

2. Damn. I knew I didn't get enough sleep last night. I read that as "P&G" and thought "toilet paper"

Speaking of which, I have to take a 10-200 - :hurts:

[RKP5637]

3. No job is done 'till the paperwork is done. I bet they wish they had follwed that

adage throughout the years to keep records current.

[jwirr]

4. False hypothesis. They are searching for evidence that the pipelines

are safe. What are they going to do if they find the opposite? The question should be: Searching for evidence the shows the condition of the pipelines either good or bad. This is how all too many studies are conducted - find what the company wants you to find.