Posted on 11/18/2018 7:14:13 AM PST by rktman
California’s electric utility is facing historic financial liability if it’s 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&E’s 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&E’s equipment contributed to the fires, the utility could be on the hook for billions of dollars even if authorities conclude it wasn’t negligent.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
oh yeah... signed their death warrant last week
Man, isn't that the truth! And since the Reagan Years, the GOP here hasn't been much better than the RATs, but now they face extinction. Ahnold’s only contribution as our governor was an illegitimate halfbreed son, he “produced” with his Mexican maid. BTW, here's today's air qualty forcast for the Bay Area. It's worse than China's http://www.sparetheair.org/Stay-Informed/Todays-Air-Quality/Five-Day-Forecast.aspx
PG&E is Northern CA down to about San Luis Obispo-Bakersfield. Sacramento is is own thing, SMUD.
So Cal is So Cal Ed down to San Diego-ish, which is or was SDG&E. LA is also its own thing, LADWP.
There are various small municipal and rural utilities too, like Palo Alto and others that hang off of irrigation projects.
Transmission to connect all these together is almost all PG&E and So Cal Ed.
The California taxpayers will be required to bail out their public utility.
That’s just the way it is.
heir NET last year was $1.66B... it should come completely out of their profits till it’s paid and not one penny from customers rate increases
As I understand it, environmentalists who refuse to allow clearing of deadwood/brush, controlled burns, etc. are more to blame for this fiasco than PG&E, but they will suffer little or no consequences.
We’re in calvada and have NVenergy so I don’t know their coverage.
“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.”
I think it will be found to be so. That said, with 45% of California’s land area “owned” by the Federal Government, why hasn’t it found to be complicit in the nonsensical policies that have prevented good forest management? Just what has Zinke been doing as Interior Secretary to undo this nonsense? While they are trying to pillory PG&E, they might want to turn the investigation onto BOTH the State AND Federal governments. PG&E is quasi-incompetent, but causing it to go broke isn’t going to solve the problem.
The other thing that’s going to go through the roof here is fire insurance on homes. We just changed insurance carriers after 35 years with the same company, because of their “recovery” policies charging all their customers for the fires of two years ago in Napa and Sonoma Counties. You will need to avoid “mutual companies” like the one’s with FARM in their names, or expect to pay through the nose.
There are literally millions of miles of overhead linesin California & elsewhere.
Those lines cannot be all put underground-—especially in earthquake areas.
The winds are not the fault of P G & E. Trees falling or breaking branches are NOT the fault of PG & E
IF you were in charge at PG & E, what would YOU do?
The power companies are already shutting down entire areas to active power when the winds are too high. For as many as 2 days at a time...to lessen their exposure to more lawsuits.
yes the RATS are primary cause of the fuel source, but not maintaining the grid is all on PG&E
and at $1.6B per year NET, they just wouldn’t make a profit for the next ten years or so not taxpayers
The state will find global warming is to blame. The source article is full of talk of global warming related liability being the thing that is going to drive industry and government policy.
The solution will be more government.
PG&E should sue the state and Sierra club for the equivalent of corporate manslaughter.
I find it curious that Paradise is
just north of Oroville lake, which
had it’s dam nearly wiped out in 2017.
It is a hydroelectric generation
facility.
Thanks - satisfied my curiosity..
I can hardly wait to see how JK Simmons spins this one on the next State Farm commercial
The Jesuit Heretic in his illicit fourth term is already enabling them to pass it onto us proletariat.
Moo bean needs to do a couple more lines.
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