Posted on 10/28/2019 7:05:23 AM PDT by outpostinmass2
Calls to transition the troubled Pacific Gas and Electric Co. into a public utility intensified Sunday, as nearly 1 million customers lost power throughout California and the Kincade Fire blazed through Sonoma County.
A day earlier, Gov. Gavin Newsom told Bloomberg he would encourage Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway to make a bid for PG&E. “We would love to see that interest materialize, in a more proactive, public effort,” he said Saturday. Berkshire Hathaway’s energy subsidiary is heavily invested in the utility business, in California and elsewhere. It owns multiple solar farms, including a 550-megawatt facility in San Luis Obispo County that is among the world’s largest.
PG&E’s stock price plunged by nearly one third Friday, to $5 a share, after the utility told regulators that a transmission line malfunctioned near where the fire started in Geyserville late Wednesday.
Jared Ellias, a bankruptcy law expert at the UC Hastings College of Law, said the Kincade Fire might scare off either of the two big groups wrestling for control of PG&E.
“Whether it’s turning the power off, or not turning the power off, PG&E can’t do anything right,” he said. “That’s a much riskier investment than any of these guys thought.”
He added Newsom’s hope that Berkshire Hathaway steps in could be wishful thinking.
“It feels a bit like longing for a savior when there isn’t an obvious solution or a cheap solution ... there isn’t a white knight,” Ellias said.
He said it’s crazy to think Berkshire has “hundreds of billions of dollars to invest in safety without raising rates or taxes.”
“The bankruptcy court can’t fix these problems and Warren Buffett can’t fix them either,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Good luck with that one, Newsome. Buffett may be a Democrat. But he’s no fool.
This was all staged so the socialists could take over another industry.
PG&E is heavily regulated by the California Public Utility Commission.
PG&E was forced to use funds for T&D maintenance for alternative energy programs.
Now that it is collapsing, the socialists blame PG&E.
It will be taken over by the state. Mark my words.
Cuomo is setting up National Grid in New York the same way with natural gas.
It has no assets other than the power lines.
They have closed two power plants, solar is a failure and they are looking at constant law suits.
Buffet invests in things he understands.
Insurance and real estate.
Newsom has the right idea. But he is picking the wrong target. Instead of Buffett, Newsom should be approaching prominent billionaire liberals like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.
Then get Bernie Sanders to oversee the transfer of funds.
Its just like China’s announcement that they encourage foreigners to buy into their finance sector. Stupid leftists and statists are ever thus.
Hey Gavin - you’ve got a highly political, corrupt, bloated bureaucratic, bankrupt business for sale? Where do I sign up?!!
So, the guy who leads the state that hates people with money wants a guy with money to solve their problem? Irony.
Newsroom is nervous because all the PG&E stock that CALPERS owns is quickly approaching zero dollars.
Seems patently obvious to me - and highly unconstitutional
...and Caifornia sinks deeper and deeper into the Third World.Ascendency is sometimes hard, but the positive attitude in it keeps everyone going. The phase of abundance is wonderful! as we who lived through the 1950s can affirm. Decadence is an increasing descent into misery, and the dark age that follows is nothing but misery.
Indeed it must be. California's wild fires are a yearly event, before modern man arrived to California. Now 3 million people will have their power shut off every year during fire season? Especially since its dubious that power lines are even a main cause of wildfires, and this certainly was never a problem in the last 100 years. How is that a long-term solution? Its not - and as you say - its merely part of a PR campaign.
Next will be the public shaming of a few well-paid PG&E executives.
Newsome thinks like a 12 year old.
My Dad worked for Iowa Power and Light for 44 years before retiring. Warren Buffet now owns the company. I can’t imagine Buffet buying PG%E and being liable for the disasters yet to come.
He is not that stupid...
The answer is cut the trees..they grow back
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk6aGg7iZ8M
It’s best to break it up into regional organizations and deregulate it while sending out teams to pre-burn and clear troubled areas.
Of course, California would never have the sense to do this.
I used to own PGE, wayback... Wayback.
The thought crossed my mind earlier this morning, seeing it at $3 and change. Then, I said... “nope”.
The state virtually owns it now. It is worthless and the state will require them to pay billions for safety work. The state and rate payers are the only two possible source of funds.
You may want to check out what he’s buying these days. He’s well invested in railroads and car dealerships.
Tard Wars, Help us Obie Won Buffett, you’re our only hope.
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