Posted on 11/18/2018 7:14:13 AM PST by rktman
Californias electric utility is facing historic financial liability if its deemed responsible for a deadly wildfire ravaging Northern California, but a lifeline from the state Friday suggested that it just may be taxpayers who help foot the bill.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. this week disclosed that it had experienced an outage and damage to a transmission tower near the origin one of the largest of several fires burning in Northern and Southern California, the Camp Fire. The incident was apparently reported to the utility mere minutes before the blaze started.
PG&Es disclosure, contained in a regulatory filing, sent shockwaves through a state already reeling from the toll and magnitude of the blazes, which have blanketed much of it in acrid smoke. Under California law, if investigators determine that PG&Es equipment contributed to the fires, the utility could be on the hook for billions of dollars even if authorities conclude it wasnt negligent.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
More in depth piece of article here at USnews.com:
Yep.
Lektrik and gas through the roof ...
California is a beautiful, resource-rich state utterly ruined by lousy government. What a shame.
People wanted power in the forests. They got it.
PG&E needs to refer it to the great State of California, which has prevented the company from clearing. The state has done the same with the phone company. People in these remote places want services, which is fine, but the forest policies no longer let the companies clear or even let the residents make fire breaks.
Absolutely.
And if those taxpayers are tapped out, I’m sure the wet-noodle Congress won’t hesitate to pick the pockets of the taxpayers in the other 49 states!
Too big to fail....
I hate to say it, but it would likely be better to have PG&E pay for it than have the State of California pay for the fire damage (but only if PG&E also manages it as well).
Californias government would triple the cost of the cleanup.
The only good thing about PG&E collecting the money to do the cleanup is that it would not be done in a progressive manner (no sapping the rich). It would be entirely based on how much electricity you use.
So what happens when the Peoples Republic takes over PG&E?
When people find out the role smart meters played in this holocaust the manufacturers will be toast.
If one thinks this through; one will see it was a tragic comedy of incompetence to allow the forest growth and density due to poor management. This includes a lack of fire ring barrier around the city limits and the density of trees inside the city limits.
Maybe the spark came from a transformer but the continued burning all the way through the town was caused by many people; including the Sierra Club who worship the tree bark like the knot heads they are. Will they also be sued? What about the politicians who made this possible by passing bonehead legislation? Will they be sued into bankruptcy?
Thinkin’ manbearpig should be on the hook for some of this. Oh, and the parents of the young twits suing about climate change not offering them a bright future.
PG&E’s ratepayers better hold onto their wallets.
I think moonbeam already screwed the consumers.
Let me guess what we will likely find out.
Environmentalists denied PG&E the ability to make their power lines safer by clearing trees around them for example.
I haven’t heard this yet, but expect this scenario could be true.
See post 13 from Boomer on this question. True or not I don’t know but I’m leaning to true.
What territory does PG&E cover? I remember we had it in Sacramento but a different provider when we moved to Southern CA. Just curious.
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