Manufacturer Urges Gas Shut-Off Valve Be Required for Quake Safety

An Anaheim manufacturer of valves that automatically shut off natural gas lines during earthquakes is pushing legislation to require the devices in new homes, even though the state’s two biggest gas companies say the valves are unnecessary and perhaps even dangerous.

The company sponsoring the measure, Quakemaster Inc., is one of only two firms certified by the state to sell the valves, which would be required in earthquake-prone parts of the state. They are now being sold for about $200 each, not including installation, and as many as 100,000 could be needed to supply the housing industry each year, depending upon the pace of population growth, utility officials say.

Edward Seay, president of Quakemaster, said his firm has sold thousands of the valves since it began making them in 1984, and he believes the devices should be required for the safety of residents of areas vulnerable to earthquakes.

Describes Dangers

“In a serious earthquake, people become disoriented,” Seay said. “If you go outside to shut off the gas, you could have a tree fall on you, or a fireplace. If it’s done automatically, that’s one less problem you have to deal with. The thought of being trapped in a building, not being able to get out, and then to smell gas--that’s not a very good way to go.”

But California’s biggest natural-gas companies, Southern California Gas Co. and Pacific Gas & Electric, disagree with Seay’s position.

“The whole notion of installing valves flies in the face of how we deal with emergency situations,” said Richard Puz, a spokesman for Southern California Gas, which serves Los Angeles and Orange counties. “The first advice we want to give people is don’t shut off the gas service unless you know there’s a gas leak or can smell gas leaking.”

Puz said a valve like the one produced by Quakemaster, which is activated by the shaking of the ground in an earthquake, would shut off the gas even if there were no leak. The utility would then be required to restore the gas service, going door to door for perhaps thousands of customers. Puz also said the valves might be activated by mild earthquakes or other vibrations, such as a large truck driving by.

Explosion Factor

More important, Puz said, some people might try to turn on the gas themselves after the valves have been activated and cause an explosion.

Similar concerns led the state’s Seismic Safety Commission to oppose the bill earlier this month, said Tom Tobin, the advisory commission’s executive director.

“The bill raises questions about the wisdom of a mandatory statewide policy of installing these devices in every new home under all circumstances,” Tobin said. “We believe the wisdom of that position has yet to be demonstrated.”

To help draft the legislation, which was introduced in December by Assemblyman Curtis Tucker (D-Inglewood), Seay’s firm hired veteran lobbyist Frederic A. Naglestad, who has a reputation for representing “underdogs” in the capital. Naglestad has worked for service station owners against oil companies and newspaper distributors against publishers.

Richard Sibley, general manger of KOSO International and the inventor of one of the gas shut-off valves, said his firm has no connection to the Tucker bill but will support it.

“I’d be crazy not to,” Sibley said. “It would make our business very nice.”

This is not the first attempt to make the gas shut-off valve mandatory. A bill in 1980 authored by then-Assemblyman Chet Wray of Orange County authorized cities and counties to require installation of the valves, but none has done so.

Amended Legislation

Last year, at Quakemaster’s request, Tucker introduced legislation that would have required the valves in new homes statewide and in homes sold or transferred. But the measure was opposed by gas companies and other interests, and Tucker amended it to require only that the state architect certify the gas shut-off valves before they are sold. The weakened measure was signed into law by Gov. George Deukmejian.

The new bill has been more sharply focused to eliminate some objections raised last year by the housing industry. Instead of applying to all homes statewide, the new measure would require that state-certified valves be installed in all new homes built in what is known as seismic zone four, a building code designation that covers most of the coast, including all of Los Angeles and Orange counties and northern San Diego County. State officials say about 80% of Californians live within the affected area.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Tucker said. “Certainly in Los Angeles, downtown, they need something. If disaster should strike, we have some old buildings--there would be a lot of lives lost.”

Tucker said he realizes Quakemaster stands to “make money out of it” if his bill becomes law.

Denies Self Interest

“But I have no vested interest in this thing at all,” he said. “The only thing I’m interested in is trying to help somebody if we have an earthquake.”

Tucker, who collected more than $230,000 in campaign contributions last year, received $3,900 from Quakemaster.

Tucker said he is willing to sit down with the bill’s opponents--particularly California’s natural-gas utilities--to see if there is room for compromise.

Seay said, however, that he believes the gas companies object to the legislation only because of the inconvenience it would cause for them. He compared the bill to past legislation requiring seat belts in cars or smoke alarms in apartment buildings.

Seay said his device is designed to shut off gas in a quake measuring 5.4 to 5.6 on the Richter scale, depending upon the duration of the earthquake and the type of soil. The valve shuts off the gas when vibrations cause any of three metal balls resting on a circular track to slip off into a socket.

Quakemaster and KOSO, however, do not agree on how the valves should be set to activate. Seay said none of his firm’s valves was activated by the Palm Springs quake last year, which registered 5.9 on the Richter scale. Yet Sibley said all of his firm’s valves installed in homes in the area shut off the gas during that quake, as they should have.

Backed by Professor

And despite contentions to the contrary by Southern California Gas, Seay said research by Samuel Aroni, a professor of architecture at UCLA, shows that gas leaks are a significant source of fires after major earthquakes. In an interview, Aroni said he supports the legislation.

“Whatever we can do to enhance our safety, I think would pay off handsomely,” he said. “One of the things would be to try to remove the potential for post-earthquake fires.”

Seay said the proposed legislation would impose little hardship on home buyers. Even though the valves are being sold for about $200 each now, he said, contractors would be able to buy them wholesale for under $100 each.

“We’re only talking about new construction,” he said. “We’re not talking about forcing an individual homeowner to reach into his pocket.”