California Pipeline Safety Rules Strengthened

A state assemblyman says California now leads the way in pipeline safety thanks to a suite of bills that have just been signed into law.

The bills – signed by Gov. Jerry Brown over the weekend – come more than two years after the deadly pipeline explosion in San Bruno.

Assemblyman Jerry Hill, a Democrat who represents the neighborhood charred in the Sept. 9, 2010 blast, told The Associated Press on Monday morning that the legislation will prevent a similar tragedy.

He later held a news conference outside the California Public Utilities Commission, as state utility regulators begin the first day of hearings in their investigation into the fatal San Bruno blast.

The commission has yet to fine Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for what federal regulators have called a litany of failures leading up to the explosion, which killed eight and destroyed 38 homes.