Regulators back tough PG&E probe
Protesters demand ‘justice for Paradise’ after wildfires
California regulators gave broad support Thursday for expanding a safety investigation into Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to include recent wildfires, as protesters demanded that the utility be held responsible for the disasters.
The comments from leaders of the California Public Utilities Commission came after their meeting in San Francisco was disrupted by more than 30 activists who blamed PG&E for the recent Camp Fire in Butte County and last year’s North Bay firestorm.
Demonstrators unfurled a large red banner and other signs echoing their calls for a government takeover of PG&E and for state officials not to rescue the embattled utility finan-
cially. PG&E could face billions of dollars in liability if its equipment is deemed responsible for sparking the Camp Fire.
Protesters chanted, “Don’t bail out PG&E. Democratize our energy” and “Justice for Paradise” — a reference to the Butte County town effectively wiped out by the Camp Fire, which killed at least 88 people and destroyed nearly 14,000 homes. The demonstration forced the meeting to halt as people chanted and criticized both PG&E and the commission.
Officers escorted many protesters out of the room and even dragged one person away.
The cause of the Camp Fire is still under investigation, but PG&E told regulators that a high-voltage power line malfunctioned near where the blaze reportedly began.
The commission already planned to consider the investigation into PG&E’s safety culture, a probe that started in 2015 and traces back to the fallout from the 2010 San Bruno PG&E pipeline explosion that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. After the Camp Fire started Nov. 8, commission President Michael Picker said he wanted to broaden the safety investigation to include recent wildfires.
Picker reiterated those comments to his fellow commissioners during the meeting, the first since the Camp Fire broke out. Noting that the recent fires happened after a consultant’s audit of the company was completed last year, Picker said he planned to start a “new phase” to examine PG&E’s corporate governance structure and operations.
The expansion will be set forth in a memo outlining the scope of the issues to be examined and the schedule. But the timing of that memo is uncertain, according to a commission spokesman.
Picker said the goal is to “determine the best path forward for Northern California to receive safe, affordable and reliable electric and gas service.”
“If we have a better option to achieve these goals, we have to consider it,” Picker said, stressing that he has not made up his mind about seeking any changes to PG&E’s structure.
Picker also acknowledged the inherent difficulties in considering major changes to California’s largest public utility.
“This is really a little bit like remodeling an airplane in midflight,” he said. “You can’t just crash the plane to make it safer. We have to keep flying at the same time.”
PG&E representatives did not speak at the meeting. In an email afterward, spokeswoman Jennifer Robison said, “We value and agree” with the consultant’s audit.
“We’ve implemented the majority of their recommendations already, and are on track to implement many more within the next year, along with other ongoing activities to improve public, employee and contractor safety,” Robison said. “We believe we have made significant progress, but we also recognize there’s always more work to do to achieve our mission to provide safe, reliable, affordable and clean energy.”
Robison said PG&E was aware of the protesters.
Other members of the body expressed widespread support for expanding the PG&E investigation. Commissioner Carla Peterman said she thinks Picker’s proposal would help address some of the concerns protesters had raised at the meeting. And Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves said she is “very interested in the next phase,” which she said has been set up well by the San Bruno-related safety audit.
Commissioners voted unanimously to direct PG&E to implement the findings of the audit that identified gaps in the utility’s safety practices and recommended a series of changes. Commissioners also embraced an administrative law judge’s proposed decision ordering PG&E to implement the audit findings. The judge had questioned whether the company was “truly changing its culture, or is just trying to ‘check the boxes.’ ”
Earlier in the meeting, the commission heard intense backlash from community members angry about what they see as PG&E’s role in two years of horrific Northern California wildfires. Protesters included members of the Democratic Socialists of America and several other environmental and activist groups.
“This is the second straight year that we’ve had to choke on carbonized remains of our neighbors,” Alexander Post of the San Francisco chapter ofthe socialist group told the commission. “You have to hold (PG&E) responsible.”
Alexandra Barnard of East Bay Democratic Socialists of America was among those who called for PG&E to no longer be an investor-owned utility.
“Electricity is a human right, so it needs to be run for people and not for profit,” she said. “This entire situation is the same mistake as the 2008 financial crisis . ... Don’t reward it. Nationalize it.”
The audit that utilities commissioners told PG&E to follow Thursday includes about 60 recommendations. Among them are adding safety to the list of areas of expertise for selecting independent board members, reassessing the company’s safety programs and accelerating safety-related leadership training for crew foremen.
Picker said the audit, conducted by NorthStar Consulting Group, identified “bright spots” in PG&E’s safety culture, but also found that the company lacks a comprehensive vision for overall safety and instead “pursues many programs without clear thinking as to how they fit together.”
“This has been deeply troubling to me and keeps me awake at night,” Picker said.
But he and other commissioners said their agency alone can’t shape the future of PG&E, acknowledging that critical roles will be played by state legislators, capital markets and the company’s federal monitor appointed after the San Bruno blast.