And I thought it took a long time to get permits in the Bay Area

[conarb]

To install gas meters legally, a licensed master plumber has to file a work permit with the city and submit plans. Then the city has to approve the work and test it to give gas authorization for the site. The process can take months, but the alleged scheme described by the prosecutors cut down the waiting time to several days, the report said.

The result endangered people’s lives, prosecutors said. When the city’s Department of Buildings went to inspect the gas meters after the scheme was uncovered, they found that some of the building owners had used a sort of cheap plastic piping that contributed to recent gas explosions in Manhattan that killed two people.

“For pure greed, they operated a criminal scheme that had no concern for safety rules and regulations,” Gonzalez said at a Thursday press conference.¹

I agree with the plastic pipe, we had two explosions in apartments in the San Jose area a few years ago blamed on plastic pipe, PG&E is replacing the pipe but it has been overshadowed by the PG&E San Bruno pipeline explosion that occurred about the same time, but specifying pipe doesn't delay permits months.


¹ http://www.jta.org/2017/01/13/news-...41-charged-in-brooklyn-alleged-gas-meter-scam

 

[StephenH]

Thanks for letting us know here, and thanks for the link mate.