One Billion dollars estimated damage....

Not the high pressure stuff, but PG&E has a TON of old copper resident services still in the ground. When the big one hits you thought this was bad.

Where'd you hear that?

Those houses were worth about $600K to $700K, tops. But it will cost maybe$500K to build a new house on each lot. Even if 100 houses have to be rebuilt, that's 50 million dollars. New paving, etc. is just a few thousand more. I'm still 950 million bucks short of a billion.

You're not factoring in the pipeline replacement and the settlements to each/every family (and then some) that were affected.

CBS, they also quoted a source saying insurance won't cover it. Out a pocket shortfall means rate increases....

Are you sure? You can't use copper for Natural Gas, because it can develop Copper-Acetylide, a low level explosive.

Lawyers

Still, a billion is a lot. Katrina was initially estimated at 25 billion and that was a whole city or darn near. What is San Bruno, 33 houses?

What's a few hundred mill between friends.....?

Correct....possibly meant to say Cast Iron.

Scary stuff.

We have a couple of underground fuel storage tanks at work and I've been to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) conferences to make sure we're following the laws to the letter. The TCEQ folks are very serious about UST's and pipelines. If your cathodic protection and pressure test isn't done annually you're in deep doodoo. I'm also typing this about 100' from a high pressure gas line.

What is the name of the CA coastal city that the whole main street was dug up, hauled off to a hazardous waste landfill out of state and completely rebuilt? If I could Google that, the costs would be some indication of a local disaster.

Positive....CTS copper tubing service replacement. Which is plastic that fits inside the old copper services. That way they just have to push through the old services and not dig a whole new trench. I'm talking about the service from the main....The main is steel in most cases. Copper was common back in the day....but like you said natural gas and copper do not mix, and the reason for the replacements.

Avila Beach?

From Wikipedia:

In the late 1990s, Unocal began the cleanup of decades old oil seepage discovered years earlier from corroding pipes under the township. Over 6,750 truckloads of contaminated material was sent to a Bakersfield Landfill, and replaced with clean Guadalupe Dunes sand. The entire Front Street and Front Street Buildings were razed as a result of the half mile wide excavation. Today, new buildings, homes, businesses, modern walkways and sea motif walls and benches take their place. A Sea Life Center welcomes visitors to explore the local ocean inhabitants up close.

Yes. I was wrong about the transport of the contaminated soil.

Avila Beach cost maybe 200 million at the high end. It doesn't appear the actual amount is available on the Net.