I’m stunned as I consider the images the natural gas line explosion this evening in San Bruno shortly after 6 p.m., leaving many people critically injured and at least one person dead.
**Previously posted photos from sfgate.com have since been removed.
As a Bay Area resident, my heart goes out to the victims and their families. As a San Francisco injury attorney and a Pacific Gas and Electric consumer, my thoughts immediately turn to how this could have happened.
Don’t look at PG&E to step up and take responsibility for this San Bruno gas line explosion and any time soon, though. While Pacific Gas & Electric officials initially said a 2-foot-wide natural gas pipeline had erupted, causing the fire and forcing a wide-scale evacuation, a spokesperson later said it could not confirm that the cause was sparked by a pipeline The official PG&E position is: “If it is ultimately determined that we were responsible for the cause of this incident, we will take accountability. Our thoughts go out to everyone affected by this terrible situation.”
And you wonder why lawyers have to get involved whenever someone gets hurt. It is exactly this kind of back-tracking and corporate-speak, seeking to deny or shift responsibility that BP is using to deny responsibility for the Gulf Oil Spill that makes it almost impossible for victims and their families to find out why things happened and get some comfort, if not closure.
Let this be a message to PG&E: Bay area residents will not tolerate a cover-up. We will get to the bottom of this disaster and we will not be intimidated by PR spokespeople and fall guys. We trust you with our lives every day, and the least you can do is be honest about how this happened.
