By Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle

Photo: Justin Sullivan, ST

Historic Chronicle Front Page September 11, 2010 A PG&E pipeline explosion would devastate a San Bruno neighborhood

Historic Chronicle Front Page September 11, 2010 A PG&E pipeline explosion would devastate a San Bruno neighborhood

Ex-federal judge to monitor PG&Es safety progress

A former federal judge has been chosen to monitor Pacific Gas and Electric Co.s efforts at safety improvements following the utilitys felony convictions for violating pipeline safety laws and obstructing the investigation of the lethal San Bruno pipeline explosion.

Mark Filip, who also served as a high-ranking U.S. Justice Department official, was jointly named by federal prosecutors and PG&E on Monday to oversee the companys safety performance for up to five years, the period of PG&Es court-ordered probation. The sentence imposed last month by U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson required that an independent monitor be appointed by Henderson unless the opposing sides agreed on a selection.

Filip, 50, has worked as a private lawyer, representing business clients and, in the mid-1990s, as a federal prosecutor in Chicago, working on cases of health care fraud and political and judicial corruption, according to a Justice Department profile.

President George W. Bush appointed Filip to the federal court in Illinois in 2004, then named him four years later as deputy attorney general, the second-highest position in the Justice Department. When President Barack Obama took office in 2009, Filip served as acting attorney general for two weeks until the Senate confirmed Obamas nominee, Eric Holder. Filip then returned to a private law firm.

In August, the company he will monitor, Californias largest public utility, was convicted by a jury in San Francisco of five charges of failing to properly inspect and repair its aging gas pipelines. On a sixth felony count, jurors found that the company had interfered with the federal investigation of the San Bruno explosion by trying to conceal its practice of pumping gas at pressures up to 10 percent above legal limits.

Eight people were killed, 58 were injured, and 38 homes were destroyed in the September 2010 explosion and fire, which started in a defective pipeline weld.

The sentence included a $3 million fine, 10,000 hours of community service by PG&E employees and public statements in newspapers and television ads acknowledging the companys guilt. The state Public Utilities Commission has fined PG&E $1.6 billion for the explosion.

The monitors task is to keep track of PG&Es safety performance and file reports to Henderson and his successors after the judge retires in August. At the sentencing hearing, Henderson said the monitor could recommend changes in PG&Es operations and, if the company objected, take the dispute to the prosecutors office and then to court.

A PG&E critic, state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, whose district includes San Bruno, said Tuesday that he was somewhat surprised by Filips selection.

He seems to have spent more time getting big companies out of messes than working to get them to clean up their messes, Hill said, referring to Filips private law practice. He also noted Filips appointments by Bush and his work as a law clerk for the late conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in 1993-94.

Hopefully he can be impartial and really protect the interests of the public, Hill said.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko

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Ex-federal judge to monitor PG&E's safety progress - SFGate