FRESNO (KMJ) — A helicopter survey of the valley’s natural gas transmission lines is getting ready to take off.
PG&E will, from next month, be in the air above Fresno to look for natural gas leaks in their transmission lines.
“This equipment…can detect very small leaks way before they become hazardous. So we can detect them, find them and fix them”, says survey superintendent Kevin Armato. “So what really helps us is that they can cover a very large area very quickly. They can cover 200 plus miles a day”.
It takes them a month to check out the entire service area, but it isn’t PG&E who operate the helicopter. That’s the duty of New Mexico based Lasen.
“So we use a system called the ALPIS system”, says Vice President Mark Handley. “It has a mid infrared laser, that bounces off the ground. And when the laser passes through methane, part of the laser is absorbed by the methane. Doesn’t bounce off the ground and come back.
“So we can detect that difference between there being no methane on the ground and methane on the ground. Based on the return signature of the laser”.
The overhead survey will be taking to the valley’s skies early June.
Hear the report from KMJ’s Dominic McAndrew as it aired:
