Stanford officials released a report yesterday to reassure community members that the University has accurate and up-to-date information about natural gas pipelines in the area.

Larry Gibbs, associate vice provost for environmental health and safety, and other Stanford officials have met periodically with officials from Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) about the safety of these lines since a gas line explosion occurred in San Bruno last September.

There are two PG&E gas lines that run parallel to Junipero Serra Boulevard from Page Mill Road to Sand Hill Road. The pipes are normally buried about four feet below the surface and their location is clearly marked by signs and stakes along the roadway.

PG&E officials informed Stanford officials last fall that these gas lines were evaluated for internal corrosion in 2007 and no such corrosion was found. However, officials also told Stanford they have not been able to find records for most of the lines along Junipero Serra.

PG&E has taken several short-term risk mitigation steps, reducing the maximum operating pressure in these pipelines and performing external inspections of the lines. The inspections did not identify any issues.

Stanford officials pledged to continue to focus on this issue and meet with PG&E representatives to ensure the reliability of the gas transmission lines near Stanford property and homeowners.

-Billy Gallagher