New Real Estate Disclosure Announced Today!

PG&E DISCLOSES PIPELINE PROXIMITY TO MILLIONS OF PROPERTY OWNERS
SAN FRANCISCO (APRIL 20)-Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) today launched its pipeline proximity disclosure to 2.5 million homeowners and businesses in California located within about 2,000 feet of a natural gas transmission pipeline.
The utility company committed to the disclosure campaign in a meeting with Congresswoman Jackie Speier last month in voluntary compliance with the property disclosure element proposed in Speier's H.R. 22 — a mandatory "Notice to Property Owners and Resident."
The disclosure notification is in the form of a special mailer to the current resident within the 2,000 feet radius of a PG&E gas transmission pipeline.  It includes (1) a safety letter with the prominent headline, "This letter provides information for homes and businesses located within about 2,000 feet of a natural gas transmission pipeline", and (2) a two-page "Natural Gas Safety" brochure.  PG&E operates in 49 of California's 58 counties.
Material Fact in Real Estate Transactions
Most important for California's real estate professionals, the letter is a property-specific notice to the current residents about an important material fact:  "Your home or business is located within about 2,000 feet of a gas transmission pipeline."
Both the letter and the brochure direct resident to PG&E's online map of pipeline locations, and to the Public Viewer of the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS) website. The brochure also educates property owners about the free "Call before you dig — 811" service, to identify pipelines on a property and avoid costly accidents during any excavation.
Potential Liability for Agents and Home Sellers
Once disclosed to a current resident or property owner, PG&E's pipeline proximity disclosure would become "actual knowledge" which, under California law, the owner must disclose to prospective buyers upon resale of the property.
To minimize the potential liability from non-disclosure of pipeline information, or faulty disclosure from a misinterpreted pipeline map, the 2,000-foot pipeline proximity disclosure is now included in the Industry Standard Report from First American NHD (FANHD) and JCP-LGS Disclosures.com (JCP-LGS).
FANHD and JCP-LGS have amassed a GIS database (digital map) of transmission pipelines throughout California that are used to transport natural gas, crude petroleum, and refined petroleum liquids such as gasoline, jet fuel and ethanol. All major gas utility providers and oil companies, and numerous smaller pipeline owners and operators, are represented in the database — among them PG&E, Southern California Gas, San Diego Gas & Electric, Sacramento Municipal Utilities District, Tuscarora Gas, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Kinder-Morgan/SFPP, BP West Coast Products and the U.S. Department of Defense.