"PG&E Launches Huge Paper Chase for Pipeline Data"

"Facing a deadline that could mean the difference between doing business as usual or cutting pressure on hundreds of miles of natural-gas pipeline, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has recruited employees to the Cow Palace grounds for a round-the-clock search through tens of thousands of boxes of paperwork.

Their job: Find proof in documents, some of them crumbling and dating back decades, that PG&E's gas lines are as safe as the utility says they are.

For the past couple of days, forklifts have been carting pallets loaded with 30 boxes each into three warehouses outside the 70-year-old arena in Daly City. Friday afternoon, there were still more than 100 pallets stacked outside the warehouses waiting to go in."

Kevin Fagan reports for the San Francisco Chronicle March 5, 2011.