"PG&E Expects Criminal Charges for Deadly San Bruno Blast"

"Pacific Gas and Electric Co. expects to face criminal charges from the federal government over the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion that killed eight people and leveled a neighborhood, the company reported Thursday.

The U.S. attorney's office investigating the blast will probably charge the utility with violating the federal Pipeline Safety Act in areas related to record-keeping and pipeline maintenance, PG&E said. The utility's parent company, PG&E Corp., made the prediction in a filing Thursday to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company maintains that its employees did not intentionally violate federal law and that criminal charges are unwarranted. The company has committed to spending $2.7 billion of its shareholders' money on upgrading its vast natural gas network in response to the accident, which destroyed 38 homes and damaged 70 more."

David R. Baker reports for the San Francisco Chronicle March 28, 2014.