Council Calls for Halt in Gas Pipeline Testing

Responding to last week’s explosion in Echo Park that injured five people, the Los Angeles City Council has called on the Southern California Gas Co. to cease pressure testing of its lines immediately and asked the Public Utilities Commission to review its procedures governing gas pipeline testing.

The blast Friday hurled large chunks of asphalt and concrete into the air and created a 100-yard trench along Glendale Boulevard when a subterranean gas pipeline undergoing a pressure test ruptured.

The emergency motion, introduced Tuesday by Councilman Mike Hernandez and approved unanimously, asked city departments to take actions to prevent pipeline testing by Southern California Gas and invited the utility company and the city’s fire and public works departments to brief the council next week about the incident.