Utility in court on fire death charges
Pacific Gas & Electric is expected to plead guilty to 84 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter during a court hearing in which the nation’s largest utility will be confronted with its history of neglect and greed that culminated in a wildfire that wiped out most of a Northern California town.
The Tuesday hearing (local time) before Butte County Superior Court Judge Michael Deems comes nearly three months after PG&E reached a plea agreement in the November 2018 Camp Fire that was ignited by its rickety electrical grid that destroyed Paradise, about 170 miles (275km) northeast of San Francisco. The fire killed 85 people, but prosecutors weren’t certain they could prove PG&E was responsible for one of the deaths.
The spectacle will unfold as PG&E approaches the end of a complicated bankruptcy case that the company used to work out $25.5 billion in settlements to pay for the damages from the Camp Fire and others that torched wide swaths of Northern California and killed dozens of others in 2017. The bankruptcy deals include $13.5 billion earmarked for wildfire victims. A federal judge will approve or reject PG&E’s plan for getting out of bankruptcy by June 30.
‘‘We want this to be impactful because this can’t go on any longer,’’ Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said. ‘‘There is going to have to be a sea change in PG&E’s method of operation.’’
The hearing will start with a recitation of each felony count while the pictures of all the people who died in the 2018 fire are shown on a large screen set up in the courtroom, according to Ramsey.
The proceedings will continue the next day when surviving family members of those who died in the 2018 wildfire will be allowed to make statements before Deems. Deems will formally sentence PG&E on Thursday or Friday, according to Ramsey. The drama will be streamed online.
Besides the mass killings, PG&E also will plead to one felony count of unlawfully causing a fire. No executives will be charged, leaving no one to imprison for the crimes. PG&E instead will pay a maximum fine of $3.5 million in addition to $500,000 to cover the county’s costs of the investigation.
The plea agreement also spares PG&E from being placed on criminal probation for a second time. The company is in the midst of a five-year probation under the withering supervision of U.S. District Judge William Alsup for a 2010 explosion in its natural gas lines that blew up a neighborhood in San Bruno and killed eight people. The probation lasts until January 2022.
Since filing for bankruptcy last year, PG&E says it already has been dramatically altering a corporate culture that prioritised profits for its shareholders over the safety of the 16 million people who rely on the utility for power.
The company is being more vigilant about trimming trees around its power lines and replacing outdated equipment before it crumbles, although Alsup has repeatedly scolded PG&E for not doing more to ensure its grid doesn’t cause more tragedy. As part of a deal with California power regulators, PG&E will replace 11 of its 14 board members.
Despite PG&E’s pledge to turn over a new leaf, its critics fear more danger looms during an upcoming wildfire season after an unusually dry winter in Northern California.