The city of San Francisco, California has filed a lawsuit against a federal pipeline safety agency in the U.S. District Court for allegedly failing to enforce safety standards for natural gas transmission pipelines. City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed the lawsuit on behalf of San Francisco against the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation, also named as a defendant. The suit claims that the agency “abjectly failed” to oversee a state pipeline safety program for over a decade and charges that unless the agency corrects the alleged abdication of its duty, there will be future problems citing the explosion of natural gas pipeline in San Bruno in 2010 killing eight people, and explosions in Rancho Cordova in 2008 and Cupertino in 2011.
Federal law requires that the U.S. secretary of transportation must outline the minimum safety standards for natural gas pipelines and ensure that state agencies are enforcing the standards, which is the Public Utilities Commission in California.
The state is seeking a court order that requires the agency to follow through on its enforcement duties.