There will be investigations and there will be denials and equivocation, but I've managed to put this much together from tweets and reports posted to journalists' blogs:
- The ruptured main belongs to Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)
- The pipe that ruptured was installed in 1948
- Residents in the area had smelled gas for 3 weeks. When it was reported, some were told to shut their garage doors; others were told not to worry about it. (note: those tweets were people reacting in real time to TV reports and interviews)
- People are still missing. Expect the death toll to rise.
- The force of the explosion also stopped the water supply, making it much more difficult to fight the fire.
- PG&E's president was interviewed, but managed to cover himself and duck any hard questions in the process about whether reports of a gas leak had not received priority attention.
- At the time of this writing, it is reported that 45 homes have been lost with hundreds more damaged.
A neighborhood exploded. Just like that. It was there one minute, gone the next, apparently the victim of a deteriorating 62-year old cylinder in the ground that wore out, blew out, and exploded after rupturing the ground above it. That cylinder is just one of many old, deteriorating lines.]
It seems obvious even to this ole country boy: Amreicans need jobs and infrastructure--roads, bridges, sewer and water pipes, gas lines, and the electrical grid, all the things a modern society needs to thrive--crumbles across our country.
For Mother Jones' sake, 'tain't rocket science, people.
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